Nuclear strategy and national style /

Gray (National Institute for Policy Studies) is the author of numerous articles and books on the nuclear issue-Strategic Studies and Public Policy: The American Experience (1982); Nuclear Strategy and Strategic Planning (1984). Here his title is somewhat misleading-he deals with the USSR and the US exclusively, neglecting Britain, France, and China, the other nuclear powers. The book focuses on the contrast between US and Soviet styles in nuclear strategy, but fails to make a convincing case that the nuclear presence itself made significant changes in those styles or the role that these two nations attempt to play on the world stage. The author makes the well-documented point that neither Soviet nor US policymakers and strategic thinkers very clearly understand the others' point of view-neither group really knows its putative enemy. This failing will affect the planning, execution, and outcome of any conflict. Gray finds ample evidence to fault the US nuclear strategy, but little in this book is apt to prompt the present administration to tinker with that posture, or is likely to set afire a new school for nuclear reform. Useful for upper-level students. Notes and bibliography.-S.L. Harrison, University of Miami