The U.S. president loses control of fifty nuclear weapons for nearly an hour. Russian nuclear bombers fence with American planes over the Pacific coast. Israel debates the merit of a preemptive nuclear strike. Treaties are signed, but thousands of nuclear weapons are still on hair-trigger alert. This is how the end begins. In this startling new book, bestselling author Ron Rosenbaum delivers a provocative analysis of how close-and how often-the world has come to nuclear annihilation.

Identifying the key players in the twenty-first century nuclear drama, Rosenbaum shows how the old Cold War system of bipolar deterrence has become dangerously unstable, and reveals disturbing flaws in the UK's own nuclear launch system. One missile strike could now set in motion an unstoppable chain of global nuclear launches, and Rosenbaum has written here a powerful, urgently needed work that challenges us: Can we undream our nightmare? 'Ron Rosenbaum has written a Dr. Strangelove for our time. He's done the seemingly impossible: captured the way our current situation is even more terrifying, more deeply surreal. If you ever thought human beings were rational, think again' Errol Morris, director of The Fog of War Simon & Schuster UK Current Affairs £12.99 978-0-85720-276-5.