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Worries about nuclear Armageddon, on the back burner for decades, seem to be reviving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two respected journalists delve into Israel's moves to counter Iran's nuclear gambit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews the book "North Korea: Another Country," by Bruce Cumings.

The Brink: President Reagan and the Nuclear War Scare of 1983 Marc Ambinder. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018. $27.00. 364 pp. The Control Agenda: A History of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Matthew J. Ambrose. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018. $45.00. 267 pp. North Korea, Iran, and the Challenge to International Order: A Comparative Perspective Patrick McEachern and Jaclyn O'Brien McEachern. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017. £105.00/$145.00. 178 pp. Hacking the Bomb: Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons Andrew Futter. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2018. $29.95. 196 pp. On the Brink: Trump, Kim, and the Threat of Nuclear War Van Jackson. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018. £18.99/$24.95. 236 pp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States' recent pivot towards Asia has ensured that the ongoing conundrum of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula remains a contentious and polarizing topic. This complex issue continues to be considered a high priority by policy professionals and academics alike, which has resulted in the publication of a number of key books that present new ways to pursue the nuclear disarmament of North Korea. In this book review essay, I return to a clash of ideas central to this issue: the value of pre-emptive strikes vs diplomatic efforts. I highlight the importance of considering North Korea's history, population and social forces when discussing denuclearization. Such an attitude is necessary to appreciate the importance of context when developing effective strategies and tactics. When approached in this manner, economic influence strategies alongside credible threat can prove effective in encouraging the denuclearization of North Korea and avoiding further turmoil in the Korean peninsula and the broader east Asian region. This approach has already produced outcomes within the past year, and illustrates that reconfiguring the defence paradigm to include social forces and the non-theocratic grassroots context of North Korea is key to denuclearization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews the book "The Nuclear Question: The United States and Nuclear Weapons 1946-1976," by Michael Mandelbaum.

Reviews the book "By the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age," by Paul Boyer.

Reviews the book "The Abolition," by Jonathan Schell.

Reviews the book "Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy," by Henry A. Kissinger.