|
Since the end of the Cold War, the threat
of nuclear, biological or chemical attacks -- the "weapons
of mass destruction" in today's headlines -- being
unleashed against civilian populations has loomed ever larger.
A deadly combination of shortsighted mistakes by Western
governments, chaos in the former Soviet Union, and virulent
international terrorism has succeeded in making us all far
more vulnerable than many would like to admit. Avoiding
Armageddon is a world citizen's guide to the worst possible
threats to our individual and national security -- from
easily accessible uranium to smallpox outbreaks to a new
breed of suicide bombers -- and what we can do to save ourselves,
our country and the planet.
Published in conjunction with the eight-hour
PBS series, Avoiding Armageddon focuses our attention
like never before on threats posed by terrorism and unsecured
weapons of mass destruction. It delves into an exploration
of those who endanger our national interest, the forms their
threats might take, and what can be done to avert the kinds
of disasters likely to ensue.
Drawing on numerous interviews with world
leaders, experts, former terrorists and would-be nuclear
thieves, Martin Schram explains how and why biological,
chemical, and nuclear warfare may very well be our next
nightmare. Reporting from hot spots around the globe, Avoiding
Armageddon is a riveting and sober story of America's
-- and the world's -- vulnerability in an age of terrorism.
Impeccably researched and compellingly written, it offers
an original assessment of how the threats and solutions
are intertwined -- and how world leaders and citizens must
act boldly to ensure our personal, national, and global
security.
Martin Schram has been a Washington-based
journalist and editor for more than three decades. The author
of four books, he writes a column for the Scripps Howard
News Service that is distributed nationally to more than
four hundred newspapers. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.
|
