Soldiers of reason : the Rand Corporation and the rise of the American empire / Alex Abella.

Author
Abella, Alex [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Εdition
1st ed.
Published/​Created
Orlando : Harcourt, Inc., ©2008.
Description
388 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks AS36.R35 A24 2008 Browse related items Request

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    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    A chronicle of the rise of the secretive think tank that has been the driving force behind American government for sixty years. Born in the wake of World War II as an idea factory to advise the Air Force on how to wage and win wars, RAND quickly became the creator of America's anti-Soviet nuclear strategy. A magnet for the best and the brightest, its ranks included Cold War luminaries who arguably saved us from nuclear annihilation and unquestionably created Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex." In the Kennedy era, RAND analysts' theories of rational warfare steered our conduct in Vietnam, and drove our invasion of Iraq 45 years later. But RAND's greatest contribution might be its least known: rational choice theory, a model explaining all human behavior through self-interest. Through it RAND sparked the Reagan-led transformation of our social and economic system, but also unleashed a resurgence of precisely the forces whose existence it denied--religion, patriotism, tribalism.--From publisher description.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (p. [345]-361) and index.
    Contents
    • 1 A Great Beginning 9
    • 2 The Human Factor 24
    • 3 The Wages of Sin 40
    • 4 A Talk Before Dinner 67
    • 5 The Secret Keepers 72
    • 6 The Jester of Death 95
    • 7 In RAND's Orbit 105
    • 8 A Delicate Dance 127
    • 9 Whiz Kids Rule 132
    • 10 The Art of Science 143
    • 11 A Final Solution to the Soviet Problem 158
    • 12 An Irresistible Force 168
    • 13 A Night in Rach Kien 191
    • 14 The Price of Success 195
    • 15 Stealing Away 213
    • 16 Plus Ca Change 217
    • 17 Team B Strikes 230
    • 18 Witnessing End Times 249
    • 19 The Terror Network 262
    • 20 Yoda and the Knights of Counterforce 275
    • 21 Back to Iraq 287
    • 22 Death of a Strategist 299
    • 23 Whither RAND? 304.
    ISBN
    • 9780151010813
    • 0151010811
    LCCN
    2007030691
    OCLC
    163707040
    International Article Number
    • 9780151010813
    Other standard number
    • 40015845533
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