Overview

"How close we came to extinction, and it is forgotten now."" So begins Nobel Prize winner Bernard Lown's story of his fight against the nuclear symptom of what he calls ""the disease of militarism."" It is still an active and highly contagious disease, but as this extraordinary memoir vividly demonstrates, it can be stopped by concerned citizens working together. In 1981, brimming with anxiety about the escalating nuclear confrontation with the Russians, Lown founded International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) with Soviet cardiologist Evgeni Chazov. They recruited more than 150,000 doctors worldwide to join their movement, held numerous international conferences, met with world political leaders, and appeared on specially produced television programs broadcast throughout the USSR and the United States. In 1985, despite active opposition from the U.S. government and NATO, Lown and Chazov accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of IPPNW. This compelling story is told with a vibrancy of language that illuminates dramatic scenes such as the historic IPPNW symposium (chaired by astrophysicist Carl Sagan) that brought together an American admiral, a Russian general, and a British field marshal at the height of the cold war; Lown, during a routine medical exam, persuading King Hussein of Jordan to join the antinuclear cause; the heart attack of a Russian journalist at an IPPNW press conference; and Lown's frank face-to-face conversations with Mikhail Gorbachev. Nuclear weapons are still very much with us, and we forget this at our peril. Prescription for Survival probes the past to help us understand what drove, and continues to drive, nuclear proliferation and offers a blueprint showing how we can join together across national boundaries to end it."

Full Product Details

Author:   Bernard Lown ,  Howard Zinn
Publisher:   Berrett-Koehler
Imprint:   Berrett-Koehler
Dimensions:   Width: 16.40cm , Height: 3.80cm , Length: 24.20cm
Weight:   0.863kg
ISBN:  

9781576754825

ISBN 10:   1576754820
Pages:   464
Publication Date:   14 July 2008
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Prologue Chapter 1: Nuclear Realities Chapter 2: Early Russian connections Chapter 3: More of Russians Chapter 4: Fears, doubts and faint beginnings Chapter 5: A delicate pas de deux Chapter 6: A mini Geneva convention Chapter 7: Airlie House: opposition on the home team Chapter 8: Airlie House to Ascot: encountering heroes Chapter 9: Military brass came marching in Chapter 10: We dominate Soviet TV for one hour Chapter 11: The Catholic Church defends my left flank Chapter 12: Pay attention to Gorbachev! But who is he? Chapter 13: “Smuggling” out a Russian painting threatens IPPNW Chapter 14: IPPNW grows into a world movement - 3rd Congress, Amsterdam Chapter 15: Downing KAL 007 flight dampens peace work Chapter 16: IPPNW a venue for Andropov’s message in time of deepening crisis. Chapter 17: A new chilling dimension to nuclear war Chapter 18: The Richard Perle brouhaha Chapter 19: Endless daylight in Helsinki Chapter 20: Mothers fight back Chapter 21: The Russians are coming Chapter 22: Gorbachev challenges the nuclear status quo Chapter 23: Adventure behind the Iron Curtain Chapter 24: Nobel Prize secret betrayed Chapter 25: From Nobel ceremonies to a long conversation with Gorbachev Epilogue

Reviews

This absorbing book illustrates how the medical and moral views of a committed and eloquent physician and his colleagues can alter the thinking and the policies of the public, the press, and politicians and military leaders. If humanity survives the nuclear arms race, Dr. Lown will deserve much of the credit for our survival. --VICTOR W. SIDEL, MD, Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine Dr. Lown's unwavering confidence in the justness of his cause, coupled with his courage and overwhelming determination, helped him to over- come every obstacle. This is a book I would prescribe for every friend of civilization and opponent of nuclear war (in other words, every sane human being). --JEROME RUBIN, founder of Lexis/Nexis Prescription for Survival describes a movement of physicians that changed the course of the mightiest powers on Earth. The prescription offered is equally relevant to winning the current struggles of impoverished and oppressed humanity for peace and justice. --DR. MUBASHIR HASAN, author, columnist, leader of the India-Pakistan peace movement, and former Minster of Finance, Planning, and Development, Pakistan The story of IPPNW and how it managed against all odds to bring sense to a potentially explosive situation makes for a fascinating read. There is much to be learned from this book on how to mobilize the opinions of citizens and leaders in the search for a greater good. --V. KASTURI RANGAN, Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing and cofounder of the Social Enterprise Initiative, Harvard Business School A unique fabric of history woven with heart threads! It says so much about priority, what is needed when we are threatened existentially, what is possible when the right man or woman at the right place does the right thing with vision and perseverance, igniting the spark of enthusiasm in other human beings of kindred spirit. For me this unique experience is the foundation of my conviction that we can also stop climate change and keep our beautiful planet inhabitable, together. --DR. MARTIN VOSSELER, environmental activist and cofounder of Swiss Physicians for Social Responsibility

Author Information

Dr. Bernard Lown is a cardiologist of world renown. He is a professor of cardiology emeritus at the Harvard School of Public Health, a senior physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and the chairman and founder of the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation. Dr. Lown is a pioneer in the research on sudden cardiac death. He invented the direct-current defibrillator for resuscitating the arrested heart as well as the Cardioverter for correcting disordered heart rhythms. He also introduced the use of the drug lidocaine for the control of disturbances of the heartbeat. His innovative research established the role of psychological and behavioral factors on heart rhythms and as provocative factors of sudden death. Dr. Lown is the author or coauthor of four books relating to medicine and more than four hundred research articles published in peer- reviewed medical journals worldwide.

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