As tensions mount in Southern Europe, Albanian warplanes drop nuclear bombs on Naples. Tel Aviv is destroyed by a nuclear attack from an unidentified country; Egyptian atomic bombs devastate London and Washington; China, the Soviet Union, the U.S. and Britain are drawn into war. Soon mushroom clouds cover nearly the entire planet.
That chilling plot for the end of the world was sketched nearly two decades ago by Nevil Shute in his bestselling novel On the Beach. At the time, it seemed farfetched. Only three nations possessed atomic weapons. Now six nations have them, at least a couple of dozen...