Description: "The dangerous, decades-long arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War begged a fundamental question: how did these superpowers actually plan to survive a nuclear strike? In Armageddon insurance, the first historical account of Soviet civil defense and a pioneering reappraisal of its American counterpart, Edward M. Geist compares how the two superpowers tried, and mostly failed, to reinforce their societies to withstand the ultimate catastrophe"--
Brief description: Edward M. Geist is associate policy researcher at the RAND Corporation.
Review Quotes: "Armageddon Insurance is a book that joins the best of both worlds--best in the sense that Edward Geist surveys how, through the long years of the Cold War, both the US and USSR, with all their elaborate strategies to destroy each other, also attempted to save at least some part of their own populations from nuclear annihilation. The book is also comparative history at its best, joining comprehensive research and readings in both English and Russian language sources, with a sustained effort to be both balanced and unbiased."--American Historical Review