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On Thermonuclear War
by KAHN, Herman
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- Seller
-
Glendale, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
8vo. xx, 651pp. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original dark orange cloth, spine lettered in gilt and ruled in black. With dust jacket. Numerous charts and diagrams within text. The binding is tight, top corner of the back panel lightly bumped. Text unmarked. Top edge of text block shows some foxing, fore and bottom edges less so. Light spotting on the pastedowns, endpapers and half-title page. The dust jacket shows some edgewear, toning on the spine, unclipped, in a mylar cover. This work by the esteemed military strategist applies game theory to hypothetical nuclear warfare. Kahn (1922-1983) was a vehement opponent of the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD), instead emphasizing proportionality and the measured consideration of how much nuclear damage a state might reasonably accept in the name of defence. This was his most famous book and posited the concept of a "winnable" nuclear exchange, using systems theory to argue that the key to nuclear deterrence was the belief that both sides had second-strike capability. It was controversial for its dispassionate willingness to contemplate the scale of destruction and death acceptable in nuclear war; its notoriety led to Kahn becoming one of the inspirations for the titular character of Stanley Kubrick's Cold-War satire Dr. Strangelove (1964).
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Details
- Bookseller
- Reginald C. Williams Rare Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 349
- Title
- On Thermonuclear War
- Author
- KAHN, Herman
- Format/Binding
- Publisher's Cloth & Dustwrapper
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- University Press
- Place of Publication
- Princeton
- Date Published
- 1960
- Size
- 8vo.
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- Science, Physics, Military History
- Bookseller catalogs
- FALL 2024;
Terms of Sale
Reginald C. Williams Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Reginald C. Williams Rare Books
Biblio member since 2021
Glendale, California
About Reginald C. Williams Rare Books
Reginald C. Williams Rare Books LLC, specializes in books from the 16th through 20th century. We stock many books in the field of literature, Western philosophy, Greek classics, the history of ideas, Medicine & Science & fine sets. We are always looking to purchase individual books in our areas of interest.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Acceptable
- A non-traditional book condition description that generally refers to a book in readable condition, although no standard exists...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
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