Book Review

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 178 words from this article are provided below; about 342 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

Book Review | The Journal of American History, 86.2 | The History Cooperative

Destroying the Village: Eisenhower and Thermonuclear War. By Campbell Craig. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. xviii, 216 pp. Cloth, $47.50, isbn 0-231-11122-3. Paper, $19.50, isbn 0-231-11123-1.)

Between the theory and practice of nuclear war lies a dark and dangerous ground. Only one person has ever crossed it, and when Harry S. Truman did so, in 1945, the theory scarcely merited the name. Things changed with the introduction of fusion bombs and long-range missiles, which required the custodians of these terrible tools to think very hard about the conditions under which they might be used. 1

Dwight D. Eisenhower did so, as Campbell Craig makes clear. Craig explains how Eisenhower wrestled with the conundrum central to the era of thermonuclear weapons: how to use weapons so powerful they are unusable in any traditional sense. The former general had won the presidency on the strength of his war practice, not his war theory, but in office he was obliged to bone up on the theory. Dissatisfied with the state of the art, Eisenhower broke new ground. . . .

There are about 342 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.