Bővebb ismertető
Preface
We of the mid-twentieth century live in a most extraordinary time. We are living through that unique epoch in the history of civilization when war will cease to be the means of settling great world problems. We shall soon enter upon the continuing period of peace, a period when there will be no more war, when disputes between nations will be settled by the application of man's power of reason, by international law.
It is the development of great nuclear weapons that requires that war be given up, for all time. The forces that can destroy the world must not be used.
The development of these great weapons took place only a short while ago—only half a decade ago there occurred the second terrifying metamorphosis, that from the giant of the kiloton nuclear bomb to the megaton monster.
We have had only a few years to contemplate the nature of life in a world of H-bombs and superbombs. The facts about these bombs and the predictions about the nature of nuclear war have become known to the public only recently, and often they have been released in a protecting cloud of reassuring verbiage. But now the facts are at hand, and we can see for ourselves that our own future and the future of the human race depend upon our willingness and ability to cooperate, to work together in a worldwide attack on the great world problems.
This is the message of this book.
r, , „ . Linus Pauling
Pasadena, California
15 April 19^8 vi!