{"title":"Len Scott","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"planning-armageddon-book-len-scott-9789058230065","title":"Planning Armageddon","description":"Planning Armageddon provides the first detailed account of Britain's Command, Control, Intelligence and Communications infrastructure. A central theme of the book is the British-American atomic relationship and its implications for NATO strategy. Based on the recollections of officials and military officers in both Britain and the United States and employing recently declassified government documents, Planning Armageddon presents a systematic analysis of British involvement in nuclear planning from Hiroshima to the development of Polaris. At the same time, it provides an important examination of the operational weaknesses of the British nuclear deterrent and the potential hazards presented by unwarranted secrecy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49545078014225,"sku":"GOR013663078","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51281349804305,"sku":"NIN9789058230065","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52431442018577,"sku":"NLS9789058230065","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9058230066.jpg?v=1751033701"},{"product_id":"cuban-missile-crisis-book-len-scott-9781526779786","title":"The Cuban Missile Crisis","description":"It is sixty years since the events of October 1962 brought the world close to nuclear catastrophe. The Cuban missile crisis has long been recognised as the moment of greatest danger in the life (and near death) of humanity. In those sixty years, our knowledge and understanding of events have undergone significant change. There are some reasons to be encouraged, inasmuch as we have learned how both President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev sought to avoid nuclear war.  More ominously, we have learned of incidents and events that suggest nuclear weapons might have been used by subordinate military commanders, in circumstances frequently unknown to their political leaders. Decisions whether to use nuclear weapons lay in the hands of often junior military commanders, some of whom were perilously close to crossing the nuclear threshold. This does not mean - as often assumed - that if some nuclear weapons were used, escalation to all-out war was inevitable. Yet the undoubted risk of thermonuclear war in these circumstances threatened the very survival of civilisation. Hundreds, if not thousands, of millions of people would have died from immediate and short-term effects, while the longer-term prospect of a 'Nuclear Winter' portended the virtual extinction of humanity.  Drawing lessons from sixty years ago faces significant challenges. If we draw lessons only to discover our understanding was mistaken, we might well have drawn the wrong lessons. Many received wisdoms about the crisis have been shown to be misleading. What is striking is how after forty or fifty or even sixty years, new evidence has emerged to challenge previously accepted explanations.  It is for the reader to reach their own verdicts on the history of the crisis, and how much we owe to political leaders who averted catastrophe (as well as how their words and deeds helped create the crisis in the first place). It is for the reader to conclude how close we came to nuclear war. Whatever conclusions are reached, one overriding lesson looms large. However we judge the actions of political and military leaders, one factor was crucial in why we avoided nuclear war in 1962. It was luck. In October 1962, humanity was very lucky. Will we be so lucky next time?  This book is an outstanding contribution to the ever-growing literature on the truly historic set of events making up the 'Cuban missile crisis'. While experts on the crisis will be familiar with many of the issues confronted, they will discover probably the best-written account of them, will surely learn something new, and be asked to question what they had come to think was settled. - Ken Booth FBA, Distinguished Research Professor, Aberystwyth University","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49752368644369,"sku":"NGR9781526779786","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1526779781.jpg?v=1751087329"},{"product_id":"cuban-missile-crisis-and-the-threat-of-nuclear-war-book-len-scott-9781847060266","title":"The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Threat of Nuclear War","description":"The decision whether to use nuclear weapons that faced political and military leaders forty-five years ago may be the choices facing leaders in crises situations today and in the future. In this spirit, Professor Scott has written a book of compelling interest.The Cuban Missile Crisis is the term used in the west to describe the events of October 1962, described by Robert Kennedy as the world brought to the abyss of nuclear destruction and the end of mankind. On 27 October that year, Robert McNamara said 'as I left the White House and walked through the garden to my car to return to the Pentagon on that beautiful fall evening, I feared I might never live to see another Saturday night'.It was indeed probably the most dangerous moment in all human history. Yet debate remains about the risk of nuclear war and what lessons might be learned from the events of 1962 in understanding the role of nuclear weapons in international politics. The purpose of this book is to examine the role of nuclear weapons in the light of a huge amount of recent research and to evaluate the risk of inadvertent nuclear war.Over the last decade, research on the crisis has revealed aspects at the operational level that suggest the risk of nuclear war was greater than assumed. Yet much greater insight can be gained into the attitudes and perceptions of the principal decision makers, Kennedy and Khrushchev. It is one of the arguments of this book that the leaders were in fact increasingly determined to avoid escalation. It is not so much what they could do to the enemy that is decisive when a political leader considers this risk. It is what such a war might do to his own country, his own power and his place in history. The main themes of this book are the role of nuclear weapons in the conduct of foreign policy, in deterring armed conflict and in risking nuclear war.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49993044164881,"sku":"GOR005006784","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1847060269.jpg?v=1751424171"},{"product_id":"intelligence-crises-and-security-book-len-scott-9780415464307","title":"Intelligence, Crises and Security","description":"This collection of essays by leading experts seeks to explore what lessons for the exploitation and management of secret intelligence might be drawn from a variety of case studies ranging from the 1920s to the ‘War on Terror’.  Long regarded as the ‘missing dimension’ of international history and politics, public and academic interest in the role of secret intelligence has continued to grow in recent years, not least as a result of controversy surrounding the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11 2001.   Intelligence, Crises and Security addresses a range of themes including: crisis management, covert diplomacy, intelligence tradecraft, counterterrorism, intelligence ‘overload’, intelligence in relation to neutral states, deception, and signals intelligence. The work breaks new ground in relation to numerous key international episodes and events, not least as a result of fresh disclosures from government archives across the world.   This book was previously published as a special issue of Intelligence and National Security and will be essential reading for students of intelligence, intelligence practitioners and general readers alike.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51119174254865,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51119177105681,"sku":"NIN9780415464307","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52128055656721,"sku":"NLS9780415464307","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0415464307.jpg?v=1751165951"},{"product_id":"planning-armageddon-book-len-scott-9781138002302","title":"Planning Armageddon","description":"Planning Armageddon provides the first detailed account of Britain's Command, Control, Intelligence and Communications infrastructure. A central theme of the book is the British-American atomic relationship and its implications for NATO strategy. Based on the recollections of officials and military officers in both Britain and the United States and employing recently declassified government documents, Planning Armageddon presents a systematic analysis of British involvement in nuclear planning from Hiroshima to the development of Polaris. At the same time, it provides an important examination of the operational weaknesses of the British nuclear deterrent and the potential hazards presented by unwarranted secrecy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51190995747089,"sku":"NIN9781138002302","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52616284242193,"sku":"NLS9781138002302","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1138002305.jpg?v=1751080889"},{"product_id":"intelligence-crises-and-security-book-len-scott-9780415400510","title":"Intelligence, Crises and Security","description":"This collection seeks to explore what lessons for the exploitation and management of secret intelligence might be drawn from a variety of case studies. It was previously published as a special issue of Intelligence and National Security.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52521713402129,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52521713631505,"sku":"NLS9780415400510","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780415400510.jpg?v=1760572231"},{"product_id":"cuban-missile-crisis-book-len-scott-9781138840928","title":"The Cuban Missile Crisis","description":"This volume brings together a collection of leading international experts to revisit and review our understanding of the Cuban Missile Crisis, via a critical reappraisal of some of the key texts.   In October 1962, humankind came close to the end of its history. The risk of catastrophe is now recognised by many to have been greater than realised by protagonists at the time or scholars subsequently. The Cuban missile crisis remains one of the mostly intensely studied moments of world history. Understanding is framed and informed by Cold War historiography, political science and personal experience, written by scholars, journalists, and surviving officials. The emergence of Soviet (later Russian) and other national narratives has broadened the scope of enquiry, while scrutiny of the operational, especially military, dimensions has challenged assumptions about the risk of nuclear war.   The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Critical Reappraisal brings together world leading scholars from America, Britain, France, Canada, and Russia to present critical scrutiny of authoritative accounts and to recast assumptions and interpretations. The book aims to provide an essential guide for students of the missile crisis, the diplomacy of the Cold War, and the dynamics of historical interpretation and reinterpretation. Offering original ideas and agendas, the contributors seek to provide a new understanding of the secrets and mysteries of the moment when the world went to the brink of Armageddon.  This book will be of great interest to students of the Cuban missile crisis, Cold War Studies, nuclear proliferation, international history and International Relations in general.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52619065917713,"sku":"NLS9781138840928","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53014343483665,"sku":"NIN9781138840928","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781138840928.jpg?v=1761534875"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-len-scott.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}