This informative book takes you on a journey through the decisions the United States made in building its nuclear weapons systems and the fail safes put in place by the scientists to prevent accidents. The story is told through the lens of a deadly accident where a Titan II blew up in Arkansas. The decision making involved is frightening during the Cold War build up and missions. The book provides a much better understanding of how we got to where we are today and will definitely educate readers on some needed steps moving forward. The accident story gets lost a bit in the skipping around to ensure the reader understands the perspectives from the key leaders at the Department of Defense and scientists at Sandia and National Labs; I found the information necessary and interesting though.