Fail-Safe (novel)
First edition
|
|
| Author | Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Political thriller |
| Publisher | McGraw-Hill |
|
Publication date
|
1962 |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 286 |
| ISBN | |
Fail-Safe is a bestselling American novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. The story was initially serialized in three installments in the Saturday Evening Post, on October 13, 20, and 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The novel was released in late October 1962, and was then adapted into a 1964 film of the same name directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, and Walter Matthau. In 2000, the novel was adapted again for a televised play, broadcast live in black and white on CBS. All three works have the same theme, accidental nuclear war, with the same plot.
Fail-Safe was so similar to an earlier novel, Red Alert, that Red Alert's author, Peter George, sued on a charge of plagiarism, settling out of court.
The title refers to the "fail-safe point" used by the Strategic Air Command (SAC) to prevent an SAC bomber from accidentally crossing into Soviet airspace and precipitating a nuclear war. In general, a fail safe ensures that, as far as possible, the machine or process will not make things worse in the event of something going wrong. The title's irony is that the nature of SAC's fail-safe protocols could make things worse, causing the event it was intended to prevent.
A US Air Force command center receives information that an unknown aircraft is approaching from Europe. The alert status of the Strategic Air Command's (SAC) bomber forces is raised, a standard precaution against a sneak attack. The unknown aircraft then disappears from radar, causing the alert status to continue to increase, eventually leading to the bombers being sent into the air to the fail-safe points. From there, they can proceed to their targets only if they receive a special attack code. After a short time, the unknown target is re-acquired and identified as an airliner. The threat level is immediately reduced, and the SAC fleet is sent a recall order.
...
Wikipedia