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Whole World on Fire: Organizations, Knowledge, and Nuclear Weapons Devastation (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs),Used
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Whole World on Fire focuses on a technical riddle wrapped in an organizational mystery: How and why, for more than half a century, did the U.S. government fail to predict nuclear fire damage as it drew up plans to fight strategic nuclear war?U.S. bombing in World War II caused massive fire damage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but later war plans took account only of damage from blast; they completely ignored damage from atomic firestorms. Recently a small group of researchers has shown that for modern nuclear weapons the destructiveness and lethality of nuclear mass fire oftenand predictablygreatly exceeds that of nuclear blast. This has major implications for defense policy: the U.S. government has underestimated the damage caused by nuclear weapons, Lynn Eden finds, and built far more warheads, and far more destructive warheads, than it needed for the Pentagon's warplanning purposes.How could this have happened? The answer lies in how organizations frame the problems they try to solve. In a narrative grounded in organization theory, science and technology studies, and primary historical sources (including declassified documents and interviews), Eden explains how the U.S. Air Force's doctrine of precision bombing led to the development of very good predictions of nuclear blasta significant achievementbut for many years to no development of organizational knowledge about nuclear fire. Expert communities outside the military reinforced this disparity in organizational capability to predict blast damage but not fire damage. Yet some innovation occurred, and predictions of fire damage were nearly incorporated into nuclear war planning in the early 1990s. The author explains how such a dramatic change almost happened, and why it did not.Whole World on Fire shows how wellfunded and highly professional organizations, by focusing on what they do well and systematically excluding what they don't do well, may build a poor representation of the worlda selfreinforcing fallacy that can have serious consequences. In a sweeping conclusion, Eden shows the implications of the analysis for understanding such things as the sinking of the Titanic, the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and the poor fireproofing in the World Trade Center.
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- Q: What is the main focus of 'Whole World on Fire'? A: 'Whole World on Fire' examines how the U.S. government failed to predict nuclear fire damage in its strategic war plans, highlighting a significant oversight in understanding the full destructiveness of nuclear weapons.
- Q: Who is the author of 'Whole World on Fire'? A: The book is authored by Lynn Eden, who explores the organizational and theoretical aspects of U.S. nuclear strategy.
- Q: What is the publication date of this book? A: 'Whole World on Fire' was published on December 15, 2003.
- Q: What is the binding type of this book? A: This edition of 'Whole World on Fire' is available in hardcover binding.
- Q: How many pages does 'Whole World on Fire' have? A: 'Whole World on Fire' contains a total of 384 pages.
- Q: What category does this book fall under? A: The book is categorized under 'Strategy', focusing on defense policy and organizational knowledge.
- Q: What condition is the book in? A: 'Whole World on Fire' is in new condition, making it suitable for collectors and readers alike.
- Q: What themes are explored in 'Whole World on Fire'? A: The book explores themes of organizational failure, military strategy, and the implications of underestimating nuclear fire damage.
- Q: Is 'Whole World on Fire' suitable for academic study? A: Yes, the book is well-suited for academic study, particularly in fields related to security affairs, military history, and organizational theory.
- Q: Does 'Whole World on Fire' include any historical documents? A: Yes, the book includes primary historical sources, such as declassified documents and interviews, to support its analysis.