The Book Prize Index

Blundering Into Disaster

Robert S. McNamara

A study of nuclear defence by a man who served as Secretary of Defense during both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. He argues that given recent nuclear accidents (Challenger and Chernobyl), we can no longer rely on technical perfection and that systems could fail and lead to disaster.

War & MilitaryWar & Military · medium confidenceWar & Military81 signalsLlm Classifier: War & Military -> War & MilitaryGoogle Books: Arms race -> Race & EthnicityAward Category: Hillman Prize for Book Journalism -> Journalism & ReportageClimate, Weather & DisasterCold War & Nuclear PoliticsInfrastructure, Engineering & Built EnvironmentMedia, Journalism & Public Opinion

Award History

1 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Hillman Prize for Book Journalism1987WinnerOfficial source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    Given nuclear accidents such as Challenger and Chernobyl, nuclear defense can no longer rely on technical perfection because systems could fail and lead to disaster.

    Model confidence 72%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    35 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 22%.