The nuclear bomb
The bomb's imagery is described both concretely and abstractly. On the concrete side, the bomb is a technology, a weapon, which utilizes fairly recent discoveries in particle physics in order to create an explosion of such epic proportion that it would destroy entire cities. On the abstract side, the bomb is the visual representation of a looming threat of doom that has shaped geopolitical reality for the past seventy years or so. The Doomsday Machine is an imagery all its own, promising death and horrifying apocalypse.
The effect of nuclear explosion
In order to clarify the actual threat that nuclear war implies, Ellsberg describes both the well-known and the not-so-well-known effects of a nuclear explosion. On the microcosmic scale, the bomb has a blast radius, and anything within that blast radius is instantly destroyed. Then, the wave of radiation leaves a threat of genetic damage throughout the nearby area, which can be easily spread by wildlife. But that isn't the greatest threat. The greatest threat is what Ellsberg describes as the ecological threat. The simultaneous explosions of multiple bombs could instantly send the earth into a climate change which could make the planet literally unlivable. Perhaps the damage to ozone layer would lead to extinction.
The delicate political balance
Now, in response to the risk of such outcomes, what is the shape of human response? The delicate geopolitical balance is the imagery arena of that response, which is unfortunate, given humanity's tendency to go to war with itself. Now armed with undeniable weaponry, the earth has come through a season of arms racing and paranoia known as the Cold War, which is part of this imagery. Ellsberg explains that the effects of bureaucracy have a horrifying effect when combined with the threat of nuclear holocaust.
Horror and civilian casualty
The title promises Doom, and it certainly delivers on that. The imagery of horror and fear defines the book in some ways. By raising the attention of the reader to the greatest threat on the planet, by explaining that such apocalypse is realistic and in some ways rather likely, the author hopes to put a chill down the spine of the reader. He reminds us that in cases of thermonuclear exchange, the goal is to kill as many innocent civilians as possible while damaging the economy. Major cities are likely to be targeted, so that millions and millions could die in a single day.
