Edison at war -- Gassing the senator -- Mitchell's war in three dimensions -- The bombsight -- Precision bombing tested -- Napalm -- The switch -- The atomic bomb -- The weapon not used -- The Cold War and the hydrogen bomb -- Missiles -- War games -- Lessons from Vietnam -- Star Wars -- Smart bombs and drones -- Epilogue
Summary
When America declared war on Germany in 1917, the United States had only 200,000 men under arms, a twentieth of the German army's strength, and its planes were no match for the German air force. Less than a century later, the United States today has by far the world's largest military budget and provides over 40% of the world's armaments. In American Arsenal Patrick Coffey examines America's military transformation from an isolationist state to a world superpower. Focusing on fifteen specific developments, Coffey illustrates the unplanned, often haphazard nature of this transformation, which h
