Overview

A groundbreaking history of nuclear weapons across the world, from their invention to the end of the Cold War How should we deal with nuclear weapons? The discovery of nuclear fission fundamentally changed the world order. Its power was harnessed, nuclear bombs invented, and the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed. In recurring international crises and calls for arms control, the threat of nuclear war has hung over humanity ever since. David Holloway traces how these weapons shaped the last century, from the US-Soviet arms race to the rivalry between India and Pakistan. Deterrence and intimidation, alliances and war plans, international treaties and organizations have all played their role. At the centre were political leaders—among them Truman, Kennedy, and Reagan, as well as Stalin, Khrushchev, and Gorbachev—who all had their fingers on the nuclear button. This is a global history of these fearsome weapons and our attempts to deal with the consequences of their existence—a story at once fascinating and repellent, of a very dangerous period in our history.

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9780300229448

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Reviews

“Meticulously details the process that keeps the nuclear balance in place and has prevented world annihilation. . . . An impressive survey that takes stock of unimaginable peril.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Holloway builds on his pioneering study of the Soviet nuclear program to present an international history of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. This book contributes not only to our understanding of history but also to how we think about the present. It is as timely as it is substantive and insightful.”—Serhii Plokhy, the author of The Nuclear Age “A superbly comprehensive and accessible account of humanity’s perilous dance with death through the atomic age.”—Mark Lynas, author of Six Minutes to Winter “Holloway has written an astonishing, meticulously researched book, and one worthy of his reputation as a preeminent historian of nuclear weapons. It is a breathtaking panorama of the nuclear age, with all of its horrible technologies and murderous theories. . . . An indispensable and deeply disturbing read.”—Sergey Radchenko, author of To Run the World “Deeply knowledgeable and breathtaking in scope. . . . In showing how international the development of nuclear weapons was from the very beginning, this brilliant book recasts our understanding of Cold War nuclear history. It is a major scholarly achievement.”—Nina Tannenwald, author of The Nuclear Taboo “Magisterial in scope, rich in source material, and authoritative in its analysis, this is an international history of nuclear weapons for our time.”—Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer, author of Unclear Physics

Author Information

David Holloway is Raymond A. Spruance Professor of International History Emeritus at Stanford University. He has written widely on the history of nuclear weapons and is the author of Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939–1956.

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