America, God and the Bomb
The Legacy of Ronald Reagan

Knelman, F.H.

Publisher:  New Star Books, Vancouver, Canada
Year Published:  1987   First Published:  1987
Pages:  478pp   ISBN:  0-919573-76-2
Library of Congress Number:  U264.K54   Dewey:  355',0217
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX3396

Abstract:  Reagan and his impact on the future. Knelman's analysis has been reinforced in the intervening years, especially by the Iran-contra affair.
Knelman's hypotheses are: that the Reagan administration constitutes a radical discontinuity in American political history; that the Reagan administration has been guided by a "secret agenda" which views the Soviet Union as a permanent adversary with whom no detente is possible.
Further, the administration sees the Soviet Union as a target for internal collapse through economic suffocation or, if necessary, by destruction in a nuclear war--a war limited or protracted but in any event survivable and winnable. And finally, that many powerful positions in the Reagan administration are held by representatives of the New Right and the Religious Right, forming a "conspiracy of the like-minded."
This book examines how the Reagan administration has consistently avoided arms agreements and relentlessly pursued superiority, provides documentary evidence of the "secret agenda" in policy and strategy, and illustrates how the the Religious Right has influenced White House policy.
There is also a chapter on Canadian complicity in the United States' nuclear strategy (despite Canada's claim that it is not participating in the escalating arms race).
The book includes a glossary and an index.
F.H. Knelman, who lives in Vancouver, is a teacher, author and peace activist.

Subject Headings

• Nuclear Weapons