Nuclear Statecraft

Francis J. Gavin is Frank Stanton Chair in Nuclear Security Policy Studies and Professor of Political Science at MIT. He is the author of Gold, Dollars, and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations, 1958–1971.

Nuclear Statecraft is a provocative and fascinating book. The writing is lucid, the analysis tightly woven and sophisticated, and the book's core conclusion—that much of what is said and thought about nuclear policy today remains hobbled by a pervasive ignorance of history (even, or perhaps especially, among nuclear policy experts)—is well argued and compelling. This book makes a significant contribution to the body of scholarly research about the evolution of US nuclear policy.- Janne E. Nolan (Nonproliferation Review) Francis J. Gavin's elegant and eloquently argued Nuclear Statecraft is a useful and timely reminder to appreciate better the historical origins of the contemporary nuclear world.. [The] section dealing with Gavin's debunking of the four myths on which nuclear alarmism is grounded—rogue states, tipping points, nuclear terrorism, and the so-called Long Peace—is worth the book's price and should be compulsory reading for decision makers and policy practitioners everywhere. Nuclear Statecraft is a must acquisition for academic and public libraries.- Joseph M. Siracusa (Journal of American History) Gavin not only succeeds in disentangling postwar nuclear history from the US-Soviet rivalry of the Cold War, but provides a deeper and more complex understanding of the long-term effects of nuclear weapons on Great Power relations.- Matthew Jones (International Affairs) Gavin's project is not merely to set the rest of us straight on nuclear history so that we can 'get it right.' Rather, it is to point out that the most useful insights to nuclear weapon issues are likely found at the convergence of nuclear theory, policy, and history, with the additional caution that even a firm grasp of the former two does not imply an equally firm grasp of the latter.... To each related theory and policy discussion he imparts a useful perspective concerning both the neglect and misuse of historical data.- Col. John Mark Mattox (Military Review)

• 1. History, Theory, and Statecraft in the Nuclear Age2. The Myth of Flexible Response: American Strategy in Europe during the 1960s3. Nuclear Weapons, Statecraft, and the Berlin Crisis, 1958–19624. Blasts from the Past: Proliferation Lessons from the 1960s5. Nuclear Nixon6. That Seventies Show: The Consequences of Parity Revisited7. Same as It Ever Was? Nuclear Weapons in the Twenty-First Century8. Global Zero, History, and the "Nuclear Revolution"NotesIndex