Get Your Free Audiobook
-
The Dead Hand
- The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Categories: History, Military
Non-member price: $38.94
People who bought this also bought...
-
Command and Control
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A ground-breaking account of accidents, near-misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: how do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? Schlosser reveals that this question has never been resolved, and while other headlines dominate the news, nuclear weapons still pose a grave risk to mankind.
-
-
Detailed and Eye-Opening
- By Jason on 01-05-2017
-
Atomic Accidents
- A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters; From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima
- By: James Mahaffey
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters.
-
-
known knowns to know
- By Ross McFarland on 17-12-2020
-
Blind Man's Bluff
- The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
- By: Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew
- Narrated by: George Wilson
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No espionage missions have been kept more secret than those involving American submarines. Now, Blind Man's Bluff shows for the first time how the navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. It unveils how the navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, 30 years ago.
-
-
Cold hard submarine history and more!
- By Sarah Battenally on 24-12-2020
-
War Beneath the Sea
- Submarine Conflict During World War II
- By: Peter Padfield
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 25 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This riveting chronicle of submarine warfare is the first to cover all the major submarine campaigns of the war, describing, in detail, the operations of the British, American, Japanese, Italian, and German submarine and anti-submarine forces. Beginning with a vivid re-creation of the sinking of the passenger liner Athenia by a German U-boat in September 1939, critically acclaimed military historian Peter Padfield's compelling narrative casts an unflinching eye on the devastating consequences of maritime warfare.
-
-
Highly recommended
- By chris watters on 11-12-2020
-
Atomic Adventures
- Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder - A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science
- By: James Mahaffey
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether you are a scientist or a poet, pro-nuclear energy or staunch opponent, conspiracy theorist or pragmatist, James Mahaffey's books have served to open up the world of nuclear science like never before. With clear explanations of some of the most complex scientific endeavors in history, Mahaffey's new book looks back at the atom's wild, secretive past and then toward its potentially bright future.
-
The Billion Dollar Spy
- A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
- By: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: John Moraitis
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January 1977. While the chief of the CIA’s Moscow station fills his gas tank, a stranger drops a note into the car. In the years that follow, that stranger, Adolf Tolkachev, becomes one of the West’s most valuable spies. At enormous risk Tolkachev and his handlers conduct clandestine meetings across Moscow, using spy cameras, props, and private codes to elude the KGB in its own backyard - until a shocking betrayal puts them all at risk.
-
Command and Control
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A ground-breaking account of accidents, near-misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: how do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? Schlosser reveals that this question has never been resolved, and while other headlines dominate the news, nuclear weapons still pose a grave risk to mankind.
-
-
Detailed and Eye-Opening
- By Jason on 01-05-2017
-
Atomic Accidents
- A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters; From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima
- By: James Mahaffey
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters.
-
-
known knowns to know
- By Ross McFarland on 17-12-2020
-
Blind Man's Bluff
- The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
- By: Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew
- Narrated by: George Wilson
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No espionage missions have been kept more secret than those involving American submarines. Now, Blind Man's Bluff shows for the first time how the navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. It unveils how the navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, 30 years ago.
-
-
Cold hard submarine history and more!
- By Sarah Battenally on 24-12-2020
-
War Beneath the Sea
- Submarine Conflict During World War II
- By: Peter Padfield
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 25 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This riveting chronicle of submarine warfare is the first to cover all the major submarine campaigns of the war, describing, in detail, the operations of the British, American, Japanese, Italian, and German submarine and anti-submarine forces. Beginning with a vivid re-creation of the sinking of the passenger liner Athenia by a German U-boat in September 1939, critically acclaimed military historian Peter Padfield's compelling narrative casts an unflinching eye on the devastating consequences of maritime warfare.
-
-
Highly recommended
- By chris watters on 11-12-2020
-
Atomic Adventures
- Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder - A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science
- By: James Mahaffey
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether you are a scientist or a poet, pro-nuclear energy or staunch opponent, conspiracy theorist or pragmatist, James Mahaffey's books have served to open up the world of nuclear science like never before. With clear explanations of some of the most complex scientific endeavors in history, Mahaffey's new book looks back at the atom's wild, secretive past and then toward its potentially bright future.
-
The Billion Dollar Spy
- A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
- By: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: John Moraitis
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January 1977. While the chief of the CIA’s Moscow station fills his gas tank, a stranger drops a note into the car. In the years that follow, that stranger, Adolf Tolkachev, becomes one of the West’s most valuable spies. At enormous risk Tolkachev and his handlers conduct clandestine meetings across Moscow, using spy cameras, props, and private codes to elude the KGB in its own backyard - until a shocking betrayal puts them all at risk.
-
The Cold War
- A World History
- By: Odd Arne Westad
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 25 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Germany and then Japan surrendered in 1945, there was a tremendous hope that a new and much better world could be created from the moral and physical ruins of the conflict. Instead, the combination of the huge power of the USA and USSR and the near-total collapse of most of their rivals created a unique, grim new environment: the Cold War. For over 40 years the demands of the Cold War shaped the life of almost all of us. There was no part of the world where East and West did not ultimately demand a blind and absolute allegiance.
-
-
Objective and we'll organised
- By Anonymous User on 27-01-2020
-
The Doomsday Machine
- By: Daniel Ellsberg
- Narrated by: Steven Cooper
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Doomsday Machine is Ellsberg's hair-raising insider's account of the most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization, whose legacy - and renewal under the Obama administration - threatens the very survival of humanity. It is scarcely possible to estimate the true dangers of our present nuclear policies without penetrating the secret realities of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, when Ellsberg had high-level access to them.
-
-
Necessary reading
- By Amazon Customer on 22-11-2018
-
The Looming Tower
- Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Lawrence Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
-
-
A Non Stop Page Turner!
- By ellen young on 30-01-2021
-
One Minute to Midnight
- Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War
- By: Michael Dobbs
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union appeared to be sliding inexorably toward a nuclear conflict over the placement of missiles in Cuba. Veteran Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs has pored over previously untapped American, Soviet, and Cuban sources to produce the most authoritative book yet on the Cuban missile crisis.
-
-
Minor technical errors, but still very good.
- By Paul on 01-11-2020
-
Greyhound
- By: C.S. Forester
- Narrated by: Jim Frangione
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1942. America have just joined the war. Greyhound, an international convoy of 37 allied ships, is in operation. As Captain Ernest Krause leads his first command of a US destroyer, the convoy ploughs through icy, submarine-infested North Atlantic seas. All the while hotly pursued by wolf packs of Nazi U-boats. Grappling with his newfound superiority and haunting self-doubt in 48 hours of desperate peril, Captain Krause's hopeless mission is doomed to fail. But armed with extraordinary courage and grit, hope may just be on the horizon.
-
-
A truly excellent war story
- By Adam on 28-12-2020
-
The War of the World
- History's Age of Hatred
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
- Length: 34 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world at the beginning of the 20th century seemed for most of its inhabitants stable and relatively benign. Globalising, booming economies married to technological breakthroughs seemed to promise a better world for most people. Instead the 20th century proved to be overwhelmingly the most violent, frightening and brutalised in history, with fanatical, often genocidal warfare engulfing most societies between the outbreak of the First World War and the end of the Cold War. What went wrong?
-
-
Daunting, Eye-opening and Dramatic
- By Anonymous User on 01-02-2018
-
Ignition!
- An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants
- By: John Drury Clark, Isaac Asimov - foreward
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ignition! is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety. John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of history, sharing a behind-the-scenes view of an enterprise that eventually took men to the moon.
-
-
I'm an analytical chemist so I may be biased
- By Anonymous User on 26-01-2020
-
Midnight in Chernobyl
- The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
- By: Adam Higginbotham
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering history’s worst nuclear disaster. In the 30 years since then, Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers not only its own citizens but all of humanity.
-
-
Best book I've listened too. Very interesting.
- By Anonymous User on 17-09-2020
-
The Bomb
- Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War
- By: Fred Kaplan
- Narrated by: Edward Bauer
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fred Kaplan, hailed by The New York Times as “a rare combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter,” takes us into the White House Situation Room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “Tank” in the Pentagon, and the vast chambers of Strategic Command to bring us the untold stories - based on exclusive interviews and previously classified documents - of how America’s presidents and generals have thought about, threatened, broached, and just barely avoided nuclear war from the dawn of the atomic age until today.
-
-
The most important book you can read today
- By Luke on 26-02-2020
-
Agent Sonya
- Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the quiet Cotswolds village of Great Rollright in 1944, a thin and unusually elegant housewife emerged from her cottage to go on her usual bike ride. A devoted mother of three, attentive wife and friendly neighbour, Sonya Burton seemed to epitomise rural British domesticity. However, rather than pedalling towards the shops with her ration book, Sonya was heading for the Oxfordshire countryside to gather scientific secrets from a nuclear physicist. Secrets that would enable the Soviet Union to build the atomic bomb.
-
-
Riveting and educational
- By Melinda on 07-12-2020
-
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mr George Smiley is small, podgy, and at best, middle-aged. He is disillusioned, wrestles with idleness, and has been deserted by his beautiful wife. He is also compassionate, ruthless, and a senior British intelligence officer in short-lived retirement from the Circus, the British Secret Service organisation situated in London. But Moscow centre has infiltrated a mole into the Circus, and it's more than likely the perpetrator is Karla, Smiley's old adversary and his opposite number in Moscow.
-
-
Never too late !
- By barry on 15-05-2020
-
Putin's People
- How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Turned on the West
- By: Catherine Belton
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Putin's People, former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton tells the untold story of the rise of Vladimir Putin and the small group of KGB men surrounding him. Delving deep into the workings of Putin's Kremlin, Belton accesses key inside players to reveal how Putin replaced the free-wheeling tycoons of the Yeltsin era with a new generation of loyal oligarchs who in turn subverted their country's economy and legal system and expanded its influence in the West.
-
-
Exceptionally detailed
- By Anonymous User on 20-06-2020
Publisher's Summary
During the Cold War, world superpowers amassed nuclear arsenals containing the explosive power of one million Hiroshimas. The Soviet Union secretly plotted to create the "Dead Hand", a system designed to launch an automatic retaliatory nuclear strike on the United States, and developed a fearsome biological warfare machine. President Ronald Reagan, hoping to awe the Soviets into submission, pushed hard for the creation of space-based missile defenses.
In the first full account of how the arms race finally ended, The Dead Hand provides an unprecedented look at the inner motives and secret decisions of each side. Drawing on top-secret documents from deep inside the Kremlin, memoirs, and interviews in both Russia and the United States, David Hoffman introduces the scientists, soldiers, diplomats, and spies who saw the world sliding toward disaster and tells the gripping story of how Reagan, Gorbachev, and many others struggled to bring the madness to an end. When the Soviet Union dissolved, the danger continued, and the United States began a race against time to keep nuclear and biological weapons out of the hands of terrorists and and rogue states.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about The Dead Hand
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 17-04-2014
Excellent and terrifying.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
If that friend has an interest in Cold War politics and the politics around WMD development and use (safe to say most do not) then absolutely.
Have you listened to any of Bob Walter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have not. I have since purchased another book he narrated though, I enjoyed him.
Any additional comments?
The subject is a bit scary and I don't think a lot of people realize just how bad the USSR was at disposing of or securing their WMD as the collapse of their government happened.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Case
- 07-07-2012
frightening beyond imagination
one of the most frightening hisotrical accounts i listened to since the rise and fall of the thrid rich.I do not know what to say this story left me disturbed to the core, I mean litteraly a world ending semi automatic response to a "threat"! -I could not stop listning in the same way you just need to look at traffic accident. Moreover the accounts of the Soviet biowarfare program left an indellable mark on my conscience-In my opion this technology represents a much greater terror threat than the use of nuclear weapons-ponder this an engineered super germ resistant to all vaccienes and treatment without the teltale blast of a nuclear weapon. this isnt horror fantasy beacuse the Soviet war machine developed and deployed these nightmare weapons up unitl the 90's! As to the story and writting it was overall very good. However there was a bit of disjointment one second we are discussing some terrible secret bio weapon the next we are talking about removing short range nuclear missles from europe. I kind of felt that there was enough marrow in this account to write three seperate books instead of sewing three parallel histories into one volume.
I would not hesitate to recomend this to anyone.
20 Best Fantasy Audiobooks
This genre is so full of talent, it can be difficult to know what to listen to next — so look no further than this list to get you started.



20 Best Nonfiction Audiobooks
From the entire history of humanity to astrophysics, to our gut and mental health, dig into this list and learn something new.



Best Australian Podcasts on Audible
Audible Original Podcasts are free for Audible members. Check out this list of home-grown content, from binge-worthy true crime to self-help.


