"A blackly sardonic people's history of atomic blunders and near-misses revealing the hushed-up and forgotten episodes in which the great powers gambled with catastrophe."--Jacket flap.

Subtitle from jacket cover. Originally published in German as: Der verstrahlte Westernheld und anderer Irrsinn aus dem Atomzeitalter (Berlin : Galiani). Subtitle from cover.

After the bomb, the world's most dangerous invention --The red bomb -- The myth of tactical nuclear war -- The radioactive cowboy, or How Alaska got the bomb -- Swords into plowshares -- The doomsday machine -- Flying reactors -- How safe is safe? -- Atomic Australia -- The deadly detours of nuclear medicine -- Broken arrows.