Tickling the Dragon’s Tail

Tickling the Dragon’s Tail is a gripping historical investigation into the political and military decisions that shaped the nuclear age—and the dangerous legacy they left behind.

Centered around the growing urgency symbolized by the Doomsday Clock, the book explores how nuclear strategy evolved from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Cold War flashpoints like the Cuban Missile Crisis and high-risk NATO exercises that nearly triggered global catastrophe.

Through meticulous research and chilling clarity, Kaplan exposes the hidden motives, power struggles, and strategic gambles that drove U.S. atomic policy. The book challenges long-held assumptions about nuclear warfare and reveals disturbing realities that continue to shape global tensions today.

Readers will uncover unsettling truths, including:

• Why some top U.S. generals believed the atomic bombings were unnecessary

• Evidence that Japanese cities were deliberately preserved as atomic targets

• How nuclear threats have been used repeatedly since World War II

• The alarming autonomy some commanders have held over nuclear launch authority

• How geopolitical ambition helped fuel the modern nuclear arms landscape

More than a historical account, Tickling the Dragon’s Tail is a sobering examination of power, consequence, and the fragile balance between deterrence and disaster. It invites readers to reconsider the forces that brought humanity to the brink—and why those risks may be growing again.

How the U.S. made nuclear threats at least 25 times since WW II.

The unsettling authority local commanders have to launch nuclear attacks.

And how America’s quest to be the “world’s sole superpower” fuels today’s growing nuclear danger.

This book is a sobering call to reexamine the forces that brought us to the brink-and continue to steer us toward a perilous future.