Books in Review

William J. Perry, My Journey at the Nuclear Brink (Stanford University Press, 2015).

Brad Roberts, The Case for U.S. Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century (Stanford University Press, 2016).

Since the end of the Cold War, debate about nuclear relations between the world’s great powers has been overtaken by fears about proliferation, particularly from Iran and North Korea. This era is over. Both Russia and China are becoming more assertive in their respective neighborhoods, while key arms control agreements, such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, are in danger of unraveling. This comes at a time when the United States needs to renew nuclear forces at a cost of between $350 billion and $1 trillion during a period of budgetary strain.

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