Edward Teller: The Real Dr. Strangelove

About the Book

Many of the scientists involved in the earliest days of the nuclear arms race are either dead or no longer working. At 96, the Hungarian emigre Edward Teller is not only working but still at the forefront in shaping national and world defence strategies. Few men have had such a profound influence on the shape of the post-war worlds. He was involved at every stage of the building of the atomic bomb. In the years following the Second World War he was dubbed 'the father of the H-bomb' and was assailed as the mastermind of a ruinous arms race, the original Dr Strangelove, his effigy burned by students who branded him a war criminal. In the view of the Nobel Laureate Eugene Wigner, he was a 'great man' of vast imagination and one of the 'most thoughtful statesmen of science'. In the view of another, Isadore Rabi, he has been 'a danger to all that's important' and 'it would have been a better world without Teller'. Throughout his life he was at the centre of controversy, pursuing causes that drew the whole world deeper into the Cold War. In the process he alienated many of his scientific colleagues while providing the intellectual lead for politicians, the military and Presidents as they shaped Western policy towards the Soviets. Yet Sakharov, the Russian dissident and father of the Soviet H-bomb, declared that Teller had been quite right in his vigorous pursuit of American military power. In The Real Dr. Strangelove, Peter Goodchild unravels the complex web of harsh early experiences, character flaws and personal and professional frustrations that lie behind the man Ronald Reagen described as 'one of the Bulwarks of American Freedom, a sterling example of what scientific knowledge, enlightened by moral sense, and a dedication to the principles of freedom and justice, can do to help all mankind.'

About the Author :
Peter Goodchild is an award-winning television producer and the former head of both Science and Features and Drama at the BBC. His production of Oppenheimer won a British Academy Award and spawned an acclaimed biography.

Review :
The man who did more than anyone in practical terms to bring about the hydrogen bomb was Edward Teller... read Edward Teller by Peter Goodchild for a balanced insight. - THE TIMES - T2 (1/3/04)

... first class... Goodchild has produced a gripping account of one side of one of the most important periods in the history of humankind. I certainly feel that I understand Edward Teller much better now than I did as a radical student in the 1960s. - THE SUNDAY TIMES - John Gribbin

As Peter Goodchild demonstrates in this sensitive and fascinating biography, Teller's danger arose from the fact that he was both a brilliant scientist and a skilled political manipulator - but unfortunately also a man of limited wisdom... The most impressive aspect of this book is its insight into a strange and often troubled man. Goodchild demonstrates that Teller was a sensitive and complex individual... - THE SCOTSMAN

...fine biography... Goodchild provides us with a first-rate thorough portrait, in which his subject is set in proper context. Yes, Teller was a warmonger, but so were the Soviets. And while he consistently exaggerated the Red threat for his own ends, the Russians scarcely helped. - THE OBSERVER

'It is the great merit of Peter Goodchild's absorbing and fair-minded book that conveys vividly why one might detest Teller and why one might love him. He avoids both demonisation and