They did some crazy things during the Cold War. Without even telling us...
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“Wolverton’s gripping Burning the Sky [is] the first book-length treatment of a remarkable series of nuclear tests in outer space, code-named Operation Argus. . . . Informative and balanced in its attention to diplomacy, science and biography.”
- Nature
“Burning the Sky is scary as hell. An unflinching look at one of the darkest and most dangerous secrets of our past that has every reason to scare us right now. Read this book right now!”
- Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of V-Wars and Deep Silence
“With lucid, compelling prose, Mark Wolverton reveals the secret, risky nuclear tests employed by scientists working for the US military during the height of the Cold War in the late 1950s. A gripping account . . . Wolverton’s nail-biting chronicle of some of the most potentially dangerous atmospheric tests ever carried out is a must for enthusiasts of military and scientific history.”
- Paul Halpern, physicist and author of The Quantum Labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and Reality
“A gripping and nerdy tale of how a military’s fetish for power and technology can wind up threatening the public instead of securing the peace. A timely reminder of the dangers of unchecked adventurism as we enter an age of cyber and social warfare.”
- R. Scott Kemp, Professor, Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“In Burning the Sky, Mark Wolverton takes us back to the giddy―and terrifying―early days of the space age, when Cold War jitters drove ambitious scientists and anxious military planners to look skyward, dreaming about nukes in space. . . . Wolverton brings the story back down to Earth, capturing the technical uncertainties and moral ambiguities of the era. Fascinating.”
- David Kaiser, Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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But secrets have a way of getting out sooner or later...
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- My latest book Burning the Sky: Operation Argus and the Untold Story of the Cold War Nuclear Tests in Outer Space, was published on November 27, 2018 by Overlook Press. Click on the cover image above to order your copy.
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As of December 30, 2020...
- The Apollo program wasn't all about science and humanity's grand quest to explore the universe. In a large sense, it was really just an elaborate exercise in global power politics. I review a new book that tells the story.
- Many people think the threat of nuclear war disappeared with the end of the Cold War, but as a new book reveals, the danger is really greater than ever.
- Back in the 1930s, some Nobel Laureate physicists thought they'd found the secret of cosmic creation in the mysterious, newly-discovered phenomenon of cosmic rays. I tell the story in my Distillations feature.
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