Insiders history of the Cold War focus of talk Friday at Bradbury Science Museum

Thomas C. Reed, author of “At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War,” will speak at the Bradbury Science Museum on Friday.

He will talk at 6:30 p.m., followed by a book signing at Otowi Station Science Museum Shop and Bookstore next door. The talk is free and open to the public, though seating is limited.

Reed was a prominent player throughout the Cold War as a former secretary of the Air Force, director of the National Reconnaissance Office, and as a special assistant to President Reagan for National Security Policy. Reed explores from a unique vantage point America's fight against communism from 1953, beginning with the death of Josef Stalin, the inauguration of President Eisenhower and the coming of the thermonuclear age to the closing of the Strategic Air Command.

As Reed writes, "The Cold War . . . was a fight to the death, fought with bayonets, napalm and high-tech weaponry of every sort, save one. It was not fought with nuclear weapons." Thoroughly documented, meticulously researched and filled with anecdotes based on hundreds of interviews with Cold War players, from U.S. presidents and former Soviet generals to policy makers to nuclear scientists, the book is a cautionary tale of our recent past and a vital lesson for our future, said Pat Berger, of the museum, which is sponsoring the talk.

The Bradbury Science Museum is located at 15th Street and Central Avenue in downtown Los Alamos. Museum hours apart from special events are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday through Monday.

The Bradbury Science Museum is part of the Public Affairs Office.

For more information, contact Berger at 5-0896.

-- Steve Sandoval

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