The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy
"The Sum of All Fears" by Tom Clancy, published in 1991, is a political thriller set in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, a time marked by shifting global dynamics and rising threats from international terrorism. The narrative centers on Jack Ryan, who has ascended to a crucial role within the CIA, facing challenges from a liberal president, Jonathan Robert Fowler, and his national security adviser, Elizabeth Elliot. As tensions escalate due to a terrorist plot involving a lost Israeli nuclear weapon, the story explores themes of morality, political power struggles, and the implications of modern technology.
The terrorists in the novel represent a diverse array of ideologies, including radical Marxism and militant Islam, highlighting the complexities of contemporary threats that are no longer confined to superpower rivalries. The plot thickens as a nuclear attack during a major public event leads to potential chaos, with Ryan trying to prevent catastrophic military responses. Throughout the story, Clancy examines not only the geopolitical landscape but also personal sacrifices, as Ryan grapples with the impact of his career on his family life. The novel underscores the necessity of vigilance in a world rife with danger while illustrating the profound human costs associated with national security efforts.
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The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1991
Type of work: Novel
The Work
One of the strengths of Clancy’s novels is their timeliness. The Sum of All Fears, published in 1991, reflects the immediate post-Cold War world. The Berlin Wall has fallen; the Soviet Union is no more. Yet the world is not necessarily safer. New tensions and old rivalries have replaced superpower antagonisms. International terrorism is obviously not new—Clancy himself wrote about it in Patriot Games—but without the restraining influence of the Cold War, terrorism could well pose a greater threat than in the past.
Ryan has risen to a position of authority in the CIA. Unfortunately, the new president, Jonathan Robert Fowler, a liberal, and his national security adviser, Elizabeth Elliot, a leftist academic, see such agencies as the CIA as incompetent and as relics of history that can be ignored. Ryan, who is not a politician, does little to avoid alienating Fowler and Elliot. The conservative Clancy holds no brief for their liberal politics, but even worse than their politics is their lack of morality. When Fowler and Elliot become lovers, it becomes obvious to the reader that they are destined to be Ryan’s foes.
In The Sum of All Fears, the terrorists are a mixed group of German Marxists, radical Muslims, and an American Indian. Each has different motives, but all are wedded to ideologies foreign to Western values and institutions. As in most of Clancy’s novels, technology plays a key role. The technological focus revolves around an Israeli nuclear weapon lost during the 1973 war with Syria. Rediscovered years later in a farmer’s garden, the rebuilt weapon is secretly shipped to the United States, trucked to Denver, and explodes during the Super Bowl game.
In the aftermath, President Fowler loses control of himself, almost declaring war on the Soviets, whom he suspects of setting off the device. When it is learned that the plot originated in the Middle East, possibly at the instigation of an Iranian Muslim cleric, Fowler issues the order to bomb the cleric’s hometown, the holy city of Qum, an act that would kill tens of thousands of innocent people. At the crucial point, Ryan steps in and vetoes the presidential order, and the vice president replaces Fowler. Although thousands have died in Denver, a world conflagration is narrowly avoided.
In this novel, Clancy brings together all the themes that make his books so popular. There is the struggle between good and evil. Technology is central to the story. The threat of nuclear weapons, a fear since the end of World War II, is shown to be a potential reality. Eternal vigilance is necessary, and someone must do what is required in spite of all obstacles. In the course of The Sum of All Fears, Ryan, driving himself too hard at work, almost destroys his own family through drink and inattention. At the end, he puts his family at the center of his life and resigns from the CIA. Someone must do the job, but the human costs can be high.
Bibliography
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