Command and Control (book)


Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety is a 2013 nonfiction book by Eric Schlosser about the history of nuclear weapons systems in the United States. Incidents Schlosser discusses in the book include the 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion and the 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash. It was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for History. A documentary film based on the book aired as an episode of The American Experience on PBS in early 2017.

Critical reception

A review in the New York Times described it as a "disquieting but riveting" book and Schlosser as a "better reporter than policy analyst".
Speaking of the book, domestic security adviser Lee H. Hamilton said, "The lesson of this powerful and disturbing book is that the world's nuclear arsenals are not as safe as they should be. We should take no comfort in our skill and good fortune in preventing a nuclear catastrophe, but urgently extend our maximum effort to assure that a nuclear weapon does not go off by accident, mistake, or miscalculation."