Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Nuclear War cover art

Nuclear War

By: Annie Jacobsen
Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Pentagon's Brain cover art
Operation Paperclip cover art
Phenomena cover art
First Platoon cover art
Raven Rock cover art
The Doomsday Machine cover art
Putin and the Return of History cover art
Nuclear War Survival Skills 2024 cover art
Deterring Armageddon cover art
Closure, Limited and Other Zombie Tales cover art
Children of the Night cover art
The Deluge cover art
One Second After cover art
2034 cover art
How They Broke Britain cover art
Smart Money cover art

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

There is only one scenario other than an asteroid strike that could end the world as we know it in a matter of hours: nuclear war. And it could start in as little as 26 minutes and 40 seconds from now…

A pulse-pounding non-fiction thriller for listeners of American Prometheus by Kai Bird or Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham.

The first rule of nuclear war is that there are no rules.

Up to now, no one outside of official circles has known exactly what would happen if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the Pentagon. Second by second and minute by minute, these are the real-life protocols that choreograph the end of civilisation as we know it.

If a single nuclear missile is launched, it provokes two dozen in return. Frantic calls over secure lines work to confirm the worst as armoured helicopters are scrambled outside. Decisions over hundreds of millions of lives need to be made within six minutes, based on partial information, knowing that once launched, nothing is capable of halting the destruction.

Because the plans for General Nuclear War are among the most classified secrets held by the United States government, this book takes the listener up to the razor’s edge of what can legally be known. Based on dozens of new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, been privy to the response plans, and been responsible for the decisions that will be made, this is the only account of what a nuclear exchange would look like.

Nuclear War is at once a compulsive non-fiction thriller and a powerful argument that we must rid ourselves of these world-ending weapons for ever.

©2024 Annie Jacobsen (P)2024 Penguin Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Nuclear War

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    172
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    145
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    9
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    169
  • 4 Stars
    22
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolute Clarity

Her earnest vocal delivery and impressive research made it impossible for me to put down. A terrible, sobering encounter with the truth.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Terrifying.

This stays with you . Very hard to get it out of your mind. Its had a profound on me . Just watching the sun rise or rain fall is special. This planet , this life is so precious.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

scary

interesting and eye opening book. sad that there is a real possibility my daughter's generation may not get to see what life has to offer them. I may not get to see her become a women, walk her down the isle abd maybe become a grandad. unfortunately I don't feel that the international war machine will allow nuclear dearmamant. peace in our time, is what we should all hope for.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well, it seems we’re all doomed.

Amazing, morbid, detailed, dark, realistic, fascinating, and overall great. I’ll be buying more books by Annie for sure but I won’t be listening to this again any time soon!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Shockingly Realistic and Plausible!

Could the World end in the next 55 minutes? We would probably not know until the first detonations hit us. This well researched book pulls no punches about the devastation caused by a one megaton bomb, and the hair trigger nature of the escalation that would inevitably follow should a rogue state like N.Korea (who already have nuclear capabilities) decide to launch Armageddon with a single ICBM on, for instance, Washington DC.

The research behind the book is impeccable, the scenario frighteningly possible, and the politics contemporary. It is convincingly narrated in real time as the envisioned situation develops. The book draws substantially on the testimonies of the actual decision makers: politicians, military chiefs, scientists, security services and planners most involved with the business of managing the huge arsenals of weapons of “Mutually Assured Destruction”.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb!

A superb depiction of an all too plausible event. It's seems all but inevitable at this point.

Only qualm with the book Is the somewhat quirky narration. I've never heard 'water' pronounced so strangely. A quibble no doubt but nonetheless bothersome.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

brilliant, scary and fascinating

this was obviously non fiction in the scenarios provided,.however, it was exhilarating and really interesting to get more context on how it could go done. the narrator was great and I couldn't stop listening truthfully. worth a listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book.Shame no one in power will read

A very good insight into armageddon and how we are blinded by the retheric of the politicians that have curupt agendas.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

struggling to listen, annoying author

Hard to listen to with annoying innovation.

Over dramatic American, should have gotten another person to read nott the author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

warning, may cause sleepless nights

a very interesting and informative book but important to remember that this is a scenario of what could happen in the first hour of an atomic launch.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!