Face to Face with the Bomb: Nuclear Reality after the Cold War

Book Description

"Here in Paul Shambroom's remarkable photographs are the machines we have built at great expense to destroy millions of human lives... and the men and women whose professional duty it is to maintain them until we learn the deep lesson that the discovery of how to release nuclear energy revealed a natural limit to the scale of human conflict." -- from the Introduction by Richard Rhodes

Although the Cold War ended more than ten years ago, the nuclear dimensions of that conflict remain ever present. The United States alone maintains a nuclear force of over 10,000 warheads; the world's other nuclear powers may possess as many as 20,000 more. Further, the atomic aspirations of such states as Iraq and North Korea continue to spark international crises, while in the wake of September 11, the possibility that terrorists might obtain and use weapons of mass destruction has become frighteningly plausible. For most people, however, nuclear weapons -- whether viewed as a dangerous threat or an effective deterrent -- exist only in the abstract.

In Face to Face with the Bomb, photographer Paul Shambroom documents the components of America's nuclear arsenal, and through his series of striking images which depict the devices and their day-to-day maintenance, he the makes clear the magnitude of the nuclear reality we have created. Taken between 1992 and 2001 at military bases in the United States and the South Pacific, these photographs offer an unprecedented inside look at the missiles, warheads, bombers, submarines, and command centers that make up the far-flung nuclear infrastructure of the United States. Shambroom's full-color prints depict both historic, Cold War--era weaponry shortly before it was mothballed and new warhead designs and missile defense prototypes that may be deployed well into the twenty-first century.

Face to the Face with the Bomb also features an introductory essay by Pulitzer Prize--winning historian Richard Rhodes, who places Shambroom's photographs within the context of the arms race with the Soviet Union, and a prologue by Shambroom, in which he discusses his experiences visiting the country's top-secret nuclear installations. Visually arresting and chillingly matter-of-fact, this volume provides a lasting document of one of the most uncertain, dangerous periods in human history.

Customer Reviews:

A unique set of pictures.......2004-02-11

Don't question reality. The Introduction by Richard Rhodes asserts that only two of the bombs shown on the cover of this book could "encapsulate as much destructive force as all the explosives used in the Second World War. World War II was a mere two-megaton war." (p. 3). I have heard how much noise a load of conventional bombs dropped by a B-52 makes landing in some mountains a few miles away, and it is easy to believe that since March 1949, the U.S. Strategic Air Command has had the power to destroy targets "in and around seventy Soviet cities (and, collaterally, the cities themselves along with several million Soviet civilians) within thirty days with only 133 atomic bombs" (p. 3), and those bombs were only atomic.

This book would have been impossible a hundred years ago: no such weapons. This book was impossible twenty years ago: in 1984, big brother would not allow anyone who did not have the need to know so much precise knowledge of what was going on. These pictures are proof, but such evidence is still subject to the height of absurdity, if anything can compare with one's own dubious experiences after imagining what this all cost: "The deafening roar brought to mind an image of a giant waterfall, with a wide, endless river of dollar bills cascading into a void" (p. xiii) in the Prologue, but logic is subject to worse reasoning when the photographer was accused "of having fabricated my earlier warhead photos. A public affairs officer said that it was impossible that they would ever have given such permission, and that the photos I was showing them must be fakes" (p. xvii). The military is largely a public institution, full of people who are quite capable of normal behavior, including a few deviations from normal conditions of secrecy when the rest of the world is expected to be entirely cowed by America's immense arsenal.

Paul Shambroom admits that he is not likely to get more pictures like these after September 11, 2001, but military authorities were still willing to help with information for the notes on pages 111-116, which include long-range plans, such as "The B-2 is expected to remain in service until 2040." (p. 116). The note for plate 78 also reveals that we have a fleet of 21 B-2 Spirit "Stealth" bombers that cost "considerably more than 2 billion dollars for each plane." (p. 115). There are not many people in the pictures, and the people are not posed, so working with an elbow and chin up in the Trident II D5 submarine missile nose assembly must be the standard procedure at the Naval Submarine Base King's Bay, Georgia, as shown in Plate 42. Reaching way inside a missile in a truck is a technician in Plate 33. Plate 2 shows a chair for the Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall on December 17, 1993, when the first operational B-2 was delivered, but there are only a few women pictured in the entire book. Plate 20 shows a woman serving a twenty-four-hour "alert" at an underground Launch Control Center in Newell, South Dakota. Plate 71 might show a woman, if the wind in the Marshall Islands is ruffling her hair and making Bermuda shorts balloon out so they look like a skirt. With a military watch and sneakers that look less fancy than the striped running shoes on the guy in the picture who looks like a guy. His/her baseball cap could be an attempt to look like one of the guys. My hair is longer than anyone who is in that picture, but I'm not working at a missile site for a missile defense test.

Anyone who would like to see the sunset reflecting from the cars of a long freight train passing a Minuteman III missile silo in North Dakota might appreciate the panorama in Plate 35. Chain link fence with a few barbed wires on top hardly seems like enough security to keep anything except cows out, but there isn't anything in the fence that would shelter a cow or anyone else in a storm in the silo area, so these tiny Launch Facilities were safe enough for a restricted area in America for years. The impressive pictures show the gigantic size of some objects, like a Trident submarine (Plates 36, 38, 47), a spare Trident submarine bow section plastic part under a tarp from Hitco (Plate 43), PARCS missile warning radar (Plate 58), and the OTH-B bomber detection radar (Plate 65). The telephone poles are very close to the ground compared to the towers for the "3000-foot transmitting antenna (one of three on the site)" (p. 114).

The Department of Energy was also requested to allow some pictures to be taken, as much of the responsibility for plutonium is within their power. I doubt if anything that is more concerned about energy than people will ever have an official documented record of anything it does quite like this book. Plate 72 shows an Abandoned Safeguard missile site in North Dakota, and efforts to deactivate systems are part of the information provided in this book, except such information as only the DOE possesses.

Nice pictures.......2003-11-25

The picture quality & composition was excellent. The text was interesting - but the main thing is seeing 'stuff' you normally wouldn't. Quality of used book from seller, william graney, was like off the shelf.

Living and learning in a Nuclear World.......2003-10-18

I am one of those folks who, like Paul Shambroom, is totally amazed at the vast nuclear network that is found across our nation.. I envy his good fortune in accessing these amazing nuclear sites and his ability to capture all on film. Over the years, I have seen first hand many of the locations he delivers to us, but often under a tight restrictive atmosphere which usually forbade photography. Paul's photos are very impressive. Missile silos, command and control centers,nuclear bomb storage bunkers, and even inside of 'the mountain' at NORAD. The quality is great, and the simplicity of it all is a bit intimidating.
If you have an interest in the weapons of the nuclear age, your choices are these: Head out to Kirtland AFB to see the Atomic Museum, or get yourself a copy of this informative book. The photos alone are well worth the purchase price. This book belongs out on the coffee table to be seen. I guarantee, you will get some comments and serious conversation.

Featured in Mr. Shambroom's book.......2003-08-20

I am one of the few people who are featured in Mr. Shambroom's book. It was an honor to have him among us as we performed our daily duties. We are not people of evil, we are all Americans bent on protecting our homeland from all who wish to destroy her.

This is a good book. It details our daily life. No one loves nuclear weapons. Not even us who work with them. But the cat is out of the bag and we have to live with our decisions and support our fellow Americans.

Order the book, you won't be sorry you did.

Our Stuff.......2003-06-15

Paul Shambroom has significantly fleshed out the visual catalogue of what, as American taxpayers, we can claim rights to as part of our national assets. Like it or not, we've got a lot of dollars tied up in the material world pictured in the ten-plus years recorded in this book. Through assiduous research, a clear-eyed view of the elements constituting nuclear culture, and a wry and occasionally awe-struck eye, Shambroom offers us a remarkable, demystifying chronicle of the growth and evolution of what now forms the foundation of our homeland's security. The images are full of humanity, too, from the personnel tenderly handling this high tech, inconceivably destructive weaponry, to the off-screen, distant launch decision makers and the similarly distant targets. For the sake of ourselves and our progeny, perhaps triangulation of the human components can help us realize the futility of ever putting these systems into play. These pictures, which certainly could not be made under current restrictions, are a kind of collective American self-portrait, the not-often-seen face of our foreign policy toward the rest of the world that would side against us.

Not your typical snapshots.(Book Review): An article from: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

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Not your typical snapshots.(Book Review): An article from: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
James M. Maroncelli , and Timothy L. Karpin
Manufacturer: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. on November 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1230 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Not your typical snapshots.(Book Review)
Author: James M. Maroncelli
Publication: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2003
Publisher: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.
Volume: 59 Issue: 6 Page: 72(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Diana Vreeland's memos to the editors, bookers, and assistants on her staff at Vogue record her obsessions and her passionate prodding. The memos were dictated to one of her often replaced secretaries, usually from home in the morning or, after twelve, at her office in the Graybar Building on Lexington Avenue, with its faux leopard-skin carpet and red walls covered with photographs and clippings neatly lined up and attached with pushpins. Visionaire, the art and fashion quarterly, invites readers to take an intimate look into her creative reign at Vogue by publishing these fabled inter-office memos in an appropriately exclusive edition portfolio. Loosely bound and wrapped in red ribbon, Visionaire 37 reproduces a select 150 of the 400 surviving memos that detail Vreeland's absolutely definitive thoughts about fashion, photographers, models, and the inner workings of the world's most powerful fashion magazine.

Book Description

In her touchingly funny daily strip, Lynn Johnston gives her fans realistic characters who humorously deal with both the good and bad that life gives them. Every day, Johnston demonstrates-through hormonal children and parents who aren't always right-that life goes on For Better or For Worse. In Middle Age Spread, parents John and Elly have started to notice their own aging process: the increasing need for glasses, exercise, and computer skills. Their children are also growing older. Michael, the eldest, advances ever nearer to adulthood as he makes his way through college in a distant town, creatively managing classes, a grumpy landlady, and a special girlfriend. Daughter Elizabeth, with her contact lenses, short new hairdo, and boyfriend, Anthony, is becoming a young lady upon whom her parents increasingly rely. The youngest, April, along with the Patterson pets, Edgar the dog and Mr. B the bunny, provide welcome doses of comic relief. But Elly worries about her parents. Her mother has grown dangerously weak and is often bedridden With heartfelt authenticity and gentle humor, Johnston delicately describes a loving family whose life together speaks to the noble human spirit in all of us.

Customer Reviews:

EXCELLENT, AS ALWAYS!.......2000-07-13

This is yet another wonderful book from a gifted storytellerwith an eye for realism and detail. I ... appreciate the growth anddevelopment of characters as opposed to the perpetual childhood of Dennis the Menace and the Archie Gang. Very few books have tastefully, gently and kindly dealt with the passing of a loved one the way this one does. (At one time, I was a little embarrassed to admit that I could be so moved by a comic, but now I'll freely admit that). It is truly a work of art and I love the way you can "suspend" reality by e-mailing the characters! I love the "interactive" forum of the strip and I really love the character of Jim, a savvy senior citizen who brings in some sharp insights. It is past time for seniors to get positive press and I'm glad to see it happen in this book! THREE CHEERS FOR THIS BOOK! END

Terrific.......1999-02-03

The Best book I have ever read in a long time.I have been reading the For Better or For Worse commic strip for the past two years. My mother is the one who got me hooked on it. What the Patterson family goes through with their kids, My parents go through the same thing. Exspecially my mother who has to put up with having her eldest child going to University and her youngest in college.The one good thing that my mother has is she only has to go through this twice.

I could actually put myself in Elly's shoes!.......1999-01-03

I've been reading the adventures of the Canadian Patterson family ever since Elizabeth was younger than her sister April is now. I love the way Lynn Johnston's characters grow up and develop...sure, it ensures the eventual end of the strip, but on the other hand I find it so much more interesting this way than characters that stay five-years old forever, like Dennis the Menace or the Peanuts.

I love comic strip collections. On the whole, they're cheaper than buying a year's worth of newspapers, and invaluable if you miss several issues.

In this particular collection, Elly and Phil's dealings with their aging parents hit a little close to home with me, as I and my brother find ourselves in a similar situation. It's uncanny because I experienced some of the guilt, helplessness, and frustration that were portrayed, and I felt a strange kinship with Elly Patterson. I mean, I, a middle aged, never-married Black American suddenly had something in common with a fictional Canadian housewife! I guess it goes to show there are some things we all go through at one time or another. I can think of no better comic than For Better or For Worse to help point that out.

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Middle Age Spread: A for Better of for Worse Collection
Lynn Johnston
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0836271394

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I Feel Better Now!

Not as good as I expected

From a DC.com Regular

Coming Clean: The Best and Worst of DailyConfession.com
Greg Fox
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Essays | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Overheard in New York

ASIN: 0740741772

Book Description

Launched in May 2000, DailyConfession.com was created as an outlet where people could confess their sins and unburden their souls in complete anonymity, as well as receive honest, compassionate responses from fellow Web users. As the Web site's popularity grew, visiting the site soon became a daily obsession for millions. To date, DailyConfession.com has logged over 250,000 confessions and two million responses, and regularly receives over one million hits each day.Coming Clean comes directly from the Internet pages of DailyConfession.com. In this truly unique collection, author and webmaster Greg Fox has compiled the wildest and wackiest confessions and responses posted to the site. The confessions are organized into categories (loosely) based on the Ten Commandments, such as That Old Time Religion; Urges, Obsessions, and Fantasies; Stop, Thief!; Family Matters; and Liar, Liar! The confessions and responses included range from the serious and truly poignant-tales of true love, suicide, and spiritual waning-to the hilariously kooky-weird habits, alien abductions, and naked neighbors. Intensely entertaining, this book doesn't merely offer gratuitous voyeurism; it illuminates some intriguing-and surprisingly common-aspects of human nature. Those who dip into Coming Clean are bound to recognize themselves in the pages of this fascinating book.

Customer Reviews:

I Feel Better Now!.......2005-03-16

I love this stuff! What I really like about this book (and the website), is that I can read about the problems other people are having - problems much bigger than my own, and then I don't feel so bad about my little issues. I actually could not put the book down until I had read it cover to cover. There are many strange people out there, and although I consider myself a well informed individual, I confess that I learned quite a few things from this book. It is great reading - especially at work on break. I just start laughing at a confession and everyone around asks me to read the confession out loud. One note: Don't lend this book out until you finish reading it, It gets passed around... Good times!

Not as good as I expected.......2005-01-12

This book is funny, and worth it for the price, but as a loyal reader of DailyConfession for 4 years, there have been better confessions on the site than the ones listed here. I hate to crack on the beloved Webbie, but some of the decisions for included confessions could have been better.

From a DC.com Regular.......2004-08-01

As a daily visitor (addict!) of Dailyconfession.com, I was very excited to see this book in print. It is an extrordinarily fun book, including some of the weirdest and wackiest confessions in the three years I've been visiting the website. Just when you thought you'd heard everything, the next page is an even crazier real-life story. While not for younger audiences (nothing sexually explicit, just the chapter on adultery may not be appropriate for youngsters), it's a book that will make you both laugh out loud, and question the intelligence of the human race.

Coming Clean: The Best and Worst of DailyConfession.com

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Coming Clean: The Best and Worst of DailyConfession.com
Greg Fox
Manufacturer: MJF Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Product Description

Book Description

In detailing the relationship of three women filmmakers' lives and films to the changing institutions of the post-World War II era, Lauren Rabinovitz has created the first feminist social history of the North American avant-garde cinema.

At a time when there were few women directors in commercial films, the postwar avant-garde movement offered an opportunity. Rabinovitz argues that avant-garde cinema, open to women because of its marginal status in the art world, included women as filmmakers, organizers, and critics.

Focusing on Maya Deren, Shirley Clarke, and Joyce Wieland, Rabinovitz illustrates how women used bold physical images to enhance their work and how each provided entrÈe to her subversive art while remaining culturally acceptable. She combines archival materials with her own interviews to show how the women's labor and films, even their identities as women filmmakers, were produced, disseminated, and understood. With a new preface and an updated bibliography, Points of Resistance simultaneously demonstrates the avant-garde's importance as an organizational network for women filmmakers and the processes by which women remained marginal figures within that network.

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Points of Resistance: Women, Power & Politics in the New York Avant-Garde Cinema 1943-71
LAUREN RABINOVITZ
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQ2VKC

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Points of Resistance: Women, Power and Politics in the New York Avant-Garde Cinema, 1943-71
Lauren Rabinovitz
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPW8VU

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Gilbert and Sullivan for Singers - Mezzo-Soprano: The Vocal Library Mezzo-Soprano
Richard Walters
Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0634059432

Book Description

W.S. Gilbert wrote the words, Arthur Sullivan composed the music, and together they revolutionized theatre music in English. This new series presents songs and arias from their timeless operettas, collected by voice type. There are 15-17 songs per volume, with the most famous excerpts being peppered by beautiful, less known choices. The edition includes notes about the plot context of each selection. The piano accompaniments on the companion CDs were recorded by Laura Ward. Includes songs and arias from The Gondoliers, The Grand Duke, Iolanthe, HMS Pinafore, The Mikado, Patience, The Pirates of Penzance, Princess Ida, Ruddigore, The Sorcerer, Utopia Unlimited, The Yeomen of the Guard.

Book Description

This kitten comes with eight costumes, including sun dresses and sunsuits, shorts, sweaters, a bathing suit, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Great for toddlers!.......2000-05-21

I buy these Dover sticker books in bulk... my two year-old LOVES them and they work great to keep her occupied quietly during plane trips. The kitten book is naturally one of her favorites, very cute and fun.

Adorable.......2000-04-30

Very cute stickers. Perfect for activities in car or restaurants. Great value.

Wonderful illustrations and fun reusable stickers.......1998-12-10

Of all the Dover little activity books, this is one of my favorites. The kitten is drawn very realistically, but still has a nice expression. The pale pastels of the clothes compliment the fashions perfectly. It's a great deal for a buck!

10 Cats and Kittens Fun Books: Stickers Paper Dolls and Postcards and More

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10 Cats and Kittens Fun Books: Stickers Paper Dolls and Postcards and More
Dover Publications Inc
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486271765

Book Description

Packed with time-tested techniques and real-life case studies, this work and life field guide is based on the famous training program of the same name. Now you can put this powerful resource to work in your search for fulfillment in your professional and personal life.

Customer Reviews:

A solid book, and a solid concept.......2007-08-25

This is a very solid book. I took a class provided by the company the authors either work for or own (I read the book as well). This was a tremendous gift for me to read this. Much of what prevents both businesses and individuals from reaching their potential is fear. This book deals with the very issues that commonly hold us back, and gives logical solutions to those issues. I learned things from this book that I was able to implement in my life that changed my personal and professional life for the better. I don't agree with every concept in here. However, I do have to admit that I was able to look at my life from a different perspective after I read this. I used concepts in this book (as well as the bible and other books) to challenge myself to get my nursing degree (which really helped the company that originally sent me to this), buy a home, and become a better husband. I might add that my company's production went way WAY up after a group from our clinic took this class (which is just the book in lecture format). No, I'm not saying this book will take all your problems away. I am saying that some of the concepts in here can only benefit an individual/company's life if implemented with a real desire to improve.

Review of Play To Win.......2007-02-13

One of the best business books ever written. Awesome insights which should be read over & over by anyone desirous of running a successful business.

Wonderful for Self-Development.......2006-06-15

No matter your business - corporation, sole propietor, financial, education - or your role within that business - owner, manager, new hire - this book can help you grow within that role. Not only can it help you professionally, but also personally. As a corporate trainer, I recommend it in all my management classes as well as to those who come to me for career coaching. It's a great, quick and powerful read.

Choosing growth over fear........2004-02-18

This great book by Larry Wilson is all about choosing growth over fear. It's about the miracle of personal development and no one knows more about personal development than Larry Wilson.Playing to Win is a soup to nuts approach to personal development as only Larry Wilson can do.Are you playing it a little bit too safe? What is that costing you? Read Playing to Win. It may revolutionize your whole life as it has mine. Outstanding book.

Falls short in some aspects.......2003-04-07

The message of the book is very easy to understand. It boils down to not having fear or letting fear and emotions control our reactions. Always STOP, CHALLENGE and CHOOSE in the face of crisis. Stop to think. Challenge your moment's thoughts and reactions. Choose the optimal course of action. The definition of the author for winning is lovely indeed: to do the best that one can with all that one has.

Now, in terms of implementation, there is a lot of space devoted to the what, but barely one chapter devoted to the how to put the book's ideas in practice, although it's fair to say that there's a good number of examples and cases brought forward. The second to last chapter is dedicated to putting together a Statement of Purpose, followed by a Vision and a plan to set it all in motion, but I can't help remembering the level of detail that Stephen Covey goes into in his book "The 7 Habits..." when discussing this same topic, and this is one that he covers early on in his book, devoting the rest of it to ways to make it happen.

All in all, it feels like a useful Step 1 book, whose key message (STOP, CHALLENGE and CHOOSE) is helpful to have present at all times, but not a book that will help make a huge step in changing your life for the long term: it falls short in some aspects, which is why I recommend Stephen Covey's work more.

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