Imagining Armageddon: the mad and dangerous ideas of Herman Kahn

During the Cold War, an American strategist theorised that nuclear war need not be catastrophic. Now back in vogue, could the ideas of the ‘real Dr Strangelove’ help avoid annihilation—or usher it in?

By Phil Tinline

July 19, 2023

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Phil Tinline is the author of The Death of Consensus: 100 Years of British Political Nightmares (Hurst). His next book is about American political nightmares.

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