General Jack D. Ripper, commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, is obsessed with keeping his precious bodily fluids pure -- especially from the Commies -- and has ordered B-52s to bomb the Soviet Union unprovoked. His commander on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Turgidson, is almost pleased, but the appalled U.S. President does everything he can to warn the Russians and either bring the planes back or get them shot down and save the planet from total destruction. This 1963 novelization of the classic black comedy film co-written by George, director Stanley Kubrick, and Terry Southern, diverges from the movie in subtle ways -- Major Kong doesn't actually ride the bomb down, and Dr. Strangelove never speaks until after the Russians' Doomsday Machine has been triggered -- but many scenes of familiar dialogue, especially with Ripper, Turgidson, and Colonel "Bat" Guano and Group Captain Mandrake -- are snappingly preserved.
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The review of this Book prepared by David Loftus
