Includes bibliographical references (pages 202-212) and index.

The authors, two physicists and a biologist, explore the scientific facts relating to the theory of nuclear winter and its consequences -- destruction of the environment, spread of epidemic disease, contamination by radioactivity, and collapse of agriculture -- that would spread famine and death to every country. With scientific caution and clarity, they analyze how a nuclear war might be fought, and how smoke and dust from fires and explosions could make much of the Earth cold and dark, how this would devastate plant and animal life, destroy harvests, and leave Earth's population ill and starving. They also explore moral and political issues, the human costs and policy implications. This thought-provoking account of the evidence that nuclear war would bring about climatic catastrophe and possibly the extinction of life on earth gives a new dimension to the nuclear debate. ISBN 0-7456-0176-6 : $34.95; ISBN 0-7456-0177-4 (pbk.).

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