The Worlds of Herman Kahn: The Intuitive Science of Thermonuclear War

by Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi

Herman Kahn was the only nuclear strategist in America who might have made a living as a standup comedian. Indeed, galumphing around stages across the country, joking his way through one grotesque thermonuclear scenario after another, he came frighteningly close. In telling the story of Herman Kahn, whose 1960 book On Thermonuclear War catapulted him into celebrity, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi captures an era that is still very much with us--a time whose innocence, gruesome nuclear humor, and outrageous but deadly serious visions of annihilation have their echoes in the "known unknowns and unknown unknowns" that guide policymakers in our own embattled world.

Portraying a life that combined aspects of Lenny Bruce, Hitchcock, and Kubrick, Ghamari-Tabrizi presents not one Herman Kahn, but many--one who spoke the suffocatingly dry argot of the nuclear experts, another whose buffoonery conveyed the ingenious absurdity of it all, and countless others who capered before the public, ambiguous, baffling, always open to interpretation. This, then, is a story of one thoroughly strange and captivating man as well as a cultural history of our moment. In Herman Kahn's world is a critical lesson about how Cold War analysts learned to fill in the ciphers of strategic uncertainty, and thus how we as a nation learned to live with the peculiarly inventive quality of strategy, in which uncertainty generates extravagant threat scenarios.

Revealing the metaphysical behind the dryly deliberate, apparently practical discussion of nuclear strategy, this book depicts the creation of a world where clever men fashion Something out of Nothing--and establishes Herman Kahn as our first virtuoso of the unknown unknowns.

Genres: History, Biography, War, Science, American History, Nonfiction, 20th Century

432 pages, Hardcover

First published April 22, 2005

Reviews

[Nick Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

was hoping to enjoy this very much, but it was so scattered, so inchoate, that it was difficult. who exactly was the audience for this book? it reads like a few academic papers, possibly by different authors, bound together.

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I need to purchase and read this immediately if not sooner. Herman Kahn is one incredible badass. I mean, just read the summary:

Herman Kahn was the only nuclear strategist in America who might have made a living as a standup comedian. Indeed, galumphing around stages across the country, joking his way through one grotesque thermonuclear scenario after another, he came frighteningly close. In telling the story of Herman Kahn, whose 1960 book On Thermonuclear War catapulted him into celebrity, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi captures an era that is still very much with us--a time whose innocence, gruesome nuclear humor, and outrageous but deadly serious visions of annihilation have their echoes in the "known unknowns and unknown unknowns" that guide policymakers in our own embattled world.

Portraying a life that combined aspects of Lenny Bruce, Hitchcock, and Kubrick, Ghamari-Tabrizi presents not one Herman Kahn, but many--one who spoke the suffocatingly dry argot of the nuclear experts, another whose buffoonery conveyed the ingenious absurdity of it all, and countless others who capered before the public, ambiguous, baffling, always open to interpretation. This, then, is a story of one thoroughly strange and captivating man as well as a cultural history of our moment. In Herman Kahn's world is a critical lesson about how Cold War analysts learned to fill in the ciphers of strategic uncertainty, and thus how we as a nation learned to live with the peculiarly inventive quality of strategy, in which uncertainty generates extravagant threat scenarios.

Revealing the metaphysical behind the dryly deliberate, apparently practical discussion of nuclear strategy, this book depicts the creation of a world where clever men fashion Something out of Nothing--and establishes Herman Kahn as our first virtuoso of the unknown unknowns.

As Herman himself might have said -- don't go for second best, baby, you gotta put your lover to the test.

[Jim Good · Rating 3 out of 5]

At its best the book discusses the world of assumptive planning in the national interests. Herman was a RAND thinker who spent his time developing survival scenerios for nuclear war and arguing the merrits of that program to the world at large. The book itself spends too much time discussing the wildfire that herman’s book “On Thermonuclear War” causes without explaining the book itself. It gives it context within the late 50s early 60s, but doesn’t really delve into the subject matter itself. The Worlds of Herman Kahn does spend some facinating time discussing the development of game theory and the mentality of national security estimates of our weaknesses and our enemies strengths. Here there is a parrallell between the cold war estimates of Soviet strengths and the current war on terrorism.

[Zachariah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting stuff in parts but this was not exactly an enjoyable read for me. It was repetitive and not well organized in my opinion. Reading many of the same ideas and even exact quotes again and again gets old fast. Also, Chapters 5 and 6, I think, scarcely even mention Herman Kahn. I thought this strange since that's what the book is supposed to be about. Then there's the 'Comedy of The Unspeakable' chapter; again, it was interesting (at times) but didn't feel like it belonged. And man, does this author love the word transpose. I'm so tired of that word after this book.

Overall not a book I would go around recommending to people (I only read it for a history class) but if you are even thinking of reading this then I imagine you probably have a keen interest in the topic already (or, like me, you are being compelled) so, in that case, have at it. I won't say you shouldn't.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost certainly deserving of full blown blog post review tie in, given its topic relevance. For now, however, I will merely state that Ms. Ghamari-Tabrizi has an excellent work of both the intellectual Cold War climate which gave birth to systems analysis as well as one its most interesting practitioners.

Kahn was truly the closest thing the think tank world ever had to a trickster-and this is precisely why I am utterly enthralled by him. He is the only person I know of who matches my interests so well I would actively wish to emulate some rough approximation of their professional life. Of course, with think tanks these day being far less freewheeling and open to new ideas as they once were, my odds of being able to do anything like he did using the old methods are remote at best.

[The American Conservative]

'So, sadly, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi’s book, which offers significant insight into Kahn, is more than just a chronicle of the past. It is an account, too, of the present, in which many of Kahn’s self-anointed successors are still riding high. And it might also be a guide to an increasingly dangerous future, in which Kahn’s memory is trampled under the thudding hooves of Four Apocalyptic Horsemen.'

Read the full review, "Clown Prince of Nuclear War," on our website:
http://www.theamericanconservative.co...

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would make a good follow-up to "By The Bomb's Early Light" (a history of the atomic bomb in American culture, 1945-1950) in that it looks at the effects of nuclear weapons & the arms race & the Cold War on American culture in the 1950s and the non-military, non-academic "think tanks" that formed to study & advise on these matters. Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi is very smart and writes well, though her language is sometimes obscure when she aims for poetical effects and/or rhetorical originality.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of the intellectual legacy of Herman Kahn, the original inspiration for Dr. Strangelove and founder of the Hudson Institute (ahh, "thinking the unthinkable"...). Focuses on his days at RAND with Wohlstetter and Andy Marshall, as well as his writings on the nature of nuclear war.

[Lclawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful narrative of a quirky person who kept the Cold War nuclear threat at bay through pragmatism. Give this a read if you want to try to crawl inside the head of genius who made his living by theorizing about how to survive nuclear holocaust.

[le-trombone]

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