Getting MAD: Nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction, its origins and practice, is the first critical history of the intellectual roots and actual application of the strategic doctrine of nuclear mutual assured destruction or MAD. Written by the world's leading French, British, and American military policy planners and analysts, this volume examines how MAD and its emphasis on the military targeting of population centers influenced the operational plans of the major nuclear powers and states, such as Pakistan, India, and Israel. Given America's efforts to move away from MAD and the continued reliance on MAD thinking by smaller nations to help justify further nuclear proliferation, Getting MAD is a timely must read for anyone eager to understand our nuclear past and future.

"November 2004."

Pt. I. The origins of MAD thinking -- The origins of MAD : a short history of city-busting / Richard R. Muller -- Destruction assurée : the origins and development of French nuclear strategy, 1945-81 / Bruno Tertrais -- The U.S. Navy's fleet ballistic missile program and finite deterrence / Harvey M. Sapolsky -- MAD and U.S. strategy / Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr. -- Pt. II. MAD in practice -- Soviet views of nuclear warfare : the post-Cold War interviews / John A. Battilega -- The origins and design of Presidential Decision-59 : a memoir / William E. Odom -- France's nuclear deterrence strategy: concepts and operational implementation / David S. Yost -- Chinese and mutually assured destruction : is China getting MAD? / James Mulvenon -- The British experience / Michael Quinlan -- Pt. III. Moving beyond MAD -- Small nuclear powers / Mark T. Clark -- Nuclear and other retaliation after deterrence fails / Tod Lindberg -- Taking proliferation seriously / Henry D. Sokolski.