Book Review - Learning to Love the Bomb

Rookie Missile Commander, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

Things must be rough all over at Strategic Command - if they are letting a character like this be in charge of a ICBM. But seriously - I just finished reading one of my best friend's latest book, "Learning to Love the Bomb - Canada's Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War." (Yes - it is on Amazon - that's where I got my copy when it came out last summer) I have always been an amateur military history buff - but Sean is the professional.

The picture above - was taken during a visit to the Titan Missile Museum in January 2006. That is him at the Missile Commander's console - with his hand posed to execute the launch order - "turn the key" (the fact that you don't see the Deputy Missile Commander in the chair on the left - means that no matter what Sean does, the missile won't be flying today. The fact that the missile has been decommissioned, de-fueled and has two large holes in the body is only a minor set-back).

Back to the book. Sean's specialty is the Cold War era. And as we get farther and farther in time from this era - there is still research being done every day, bringing new stories of that turbulent time to light.

Some of Sean's previous works in this era are;

• Securing Command of the Sea (NATO Naval Planning, 1948-1954)
• Canada and UN Peacekeeping (Cold War by Other Means, 1945-1970)
• War without Battles (Canada's NATO Brigade, 1945-1993)

But this book - his latest on the Cold War - revolves around Canada's access to and control over nuclear weapons. I won't kid you - this isn't an easy read. It is full of meeting notes, political in-fighting, larger than life ego's, all revolving around the why, how, and when that Canada had nukes. But Sean did a pretty good job of pulling it all together to explain this - through three separate Canadian governments (and these were some pretty different governments),
the formation of NORAD, through the evolution of NATO's European defense policies.

The early NATO defense concepts - incorporated the use of tactical nuclear weapon's into their plan because there was a realization that the smaller NATO conventional forces would just be a speed bump in the road to the overwhelming size of the Soviet armies. It wasn't until the late 70's/early 80's - where the NATO technology was starting to provide quality over quantity that there was a sizeable shift away from nuclear weapon's (and the fact that it isn't really defending a country if you ended up destroying it while the enemie's army is the advancing across it).

One thing that you have to remember about the timeframe - late 50's to the 60's - was that just like the Battleship leading up to World War 1 - the Bomb was the weapon that everyone HAD to have. If you didn't have the Bomb, then your country wasn't part of the top tier of nations. In some ways - this policy has continued today with countries like Iran and Libya (Iran doesn't want to admit that this is the case - but I don't think that anyone buys the other excuses coming from their firebrand of a President - and Libya has given up theirs in exchange for 'normal' relations with the rest of the world).

I have to admit - that there are times that I am the 'ugly American' because I am not as knowledgeable about the world around me. I can name every single US President since World War 2 - but couldn't name any Canadian Prime Minister's except for Trudeau or Mulroney. So all of the material in this book - was brand new to me. That's one of the things that I value in Sean's friendship - he brings an outside perspective and opinion to our discussions and debates.

[Now you be asking why I haven't posted this review on the book's page on Amazon... well - I figure it wouldn't necessarily be given the proper credit. Because you see the picture above - was the one that Sean used for his 'About the Author' on the inside of the dust jacket. I was the photographer who took it. And am credited with taking it. So now - I am an 'internationally published photographer.' I think I was ROFLMAO for a least 10-15 minutes when I first opened the book up. My wife keeps telling me I need to put this picture on my CV/resume - just as an ice-breaker for interviews]