Nuclear weapons Books
Cambridge University Press The Revolution that Failed Nuclear Competition Arms Control and the Cold War
Book SynopsisThe nuclear revolution, or MAD, predicts that after a certain point, nuclear competition is irrational, and arms racing should end. Through an analysis of the Cold War, this book explains why the superpowers did not accept MAD, concluding that contemporary great power rivals face similar risks of a nuclear arms race today.Trade Review'The nuclear weapons competition between the United States and the Soviet Union was a key driver in the Cold War; but how well do we understand this dynamic? The Revolution That Failed offers a powerful and convincing challenge to the long-held status quo view regarding the causes of nuclear competition. Based on deep research in primary materials, Green brilliantly demonstrates the efforts by the United States to seek nuclear advantage. This study overturns much of what we thought we knew about the politics of arms control, with profound consequences for how we understand our nuclear dilemmas. It promises to become the standard work on this crucial subject.' Francis J. Gavin, Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University'The Revolution that Failed presents a sophisticated and compelling challenge to the widely held belief that nuclear weapons revolutionized international politics. Anyone interested in understanding the incentives that drove the arms race during the Cold War should read this book.' John J. Mearsheimer, Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago'With sophisticated theorizing and painstaking research, Green shows that, during the Cold War, American leaders did not accept the dogma of Mutual Assured Destruction. Instead, they sought weapons that could be used to out compete the USSR and produce the best possible military outcome in the event of war. This is a major achievement that alters our understanding of the Soviet-American interaction and the role of nuclear weapons.' Robert Jervis, author of The Meaning of the Nuclear Revolution and How Statesmen Think'This brilliant book combines new theoretical perspectives and empirical insights to explain nuclear competition between the superpowers during the late Cold War.' Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer, Journal of Peace ResearchTable of ContentsIntroduction: a revolution, or what?; 1. The nuclear revolution revisited; 2. The delicacy of the nuclear balance; 3. Comparative constitutional fitness; 4. Testing the argument against its competitors; 5. Nixon and the origins of renewed nuclear competition, 1969–1971; 6. Nixon, Ford, and accelerating nuclear competition, 1971–1976; 7. The rise of nuclear warfighting, 1972–1976; 8. Carter and the climax of the arms race, 1977–1979; 9. The revolution that failed.
£33.24
Back Bay Books The Bastard Brigade The True Story of the
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£18.69
Diversified Publishing Road to Surrender
Book SynopsisA riveting, immersive account of the agonizing decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan—a crucial turning point in World War II and geopolitical history—with you-are-there immediacy by the New York Times bestselling author of Ike’s Bluff and Sea of Thunder.“As Christopher Nolan’s movie Oppenheimer shows, the shockwaves reverberate still. The veteran biographer Evan Thomas now enters the debate.”—The Wall Street JournalAN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEARAt 9:20 a.m. on the morning of May 30, General Groves receives a message to report to the office of the secretary of war “at once.” Stimson is waiting for him. He wants to know: has Groves selected the targets yet?So begins this suspenseful, impeccably researched history that draws on new access to diaries to tell the story of three men who were intimately involved with America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb—and Japan’s decision to surrender. They are Henry Stimson, the American Secretary of War, who oversaw J. Robert Oppenheimer under the Manhattan Project; Gen. Carl “Tooey” Spaatz, head of strategic bombing in the Pacific, who supervised the planes that dropped the bombs; and Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo, the only one in Emperor Hirohito’s Supreme War Council who believed even before the bombs were dropped that Japan should surrender. Henry Stimson had served in the administrations of five presidents, but as Oppenheimer’s work progressed, he found himself tasked with the unimaginable decision of determining whether to deploy the bomb. The new president, Harry S. Truman, thus far a peripheral figure in the momentous decision, accepted Stimson’s recommendation to drop the bomb. Army Air Force Commander Gen. Spaatz ordered the planes to take off. Like Stimson, Spaatz agonized over the command even as he recognized it would end the war. After the bombs were dropped, Foreign Minister Togo was finally able to convince the emperor to surrender.To bring these critical events to vivid life, bestselling author Evan Thomas draws on the diaries of Stimson, Togo and Spaatz, contemplating the immense weight of their historic decision. In Road to Surrender, an immersive, surprising, moving account, Thomas lays out the behind-the-scenes thoughts, feelings, motivations, and decision-making of three people who changed history.
£24.00
Hoover Institution Press,U.S. Nuclear Security The Problems and the Road Ahead
Book SynopsisConcern about the threat posed by nuclear weapons has preoccupied the United States and presidents of the United States since the beginning of the nuclear era. Nuclear Security draws from papers presented at the 2013 meeting of the American Nuclear Society examining worldwide efforts to control nuclear weapons and ensure the safety of the nuclear enterprise of weapons and reactors against catastrophic accidents. The distinguished contributors, all known for their long-standing interest in getting better control of the threats posed by nuclear weapons and reactors, discuss what we can learn from past successes and failures and attempt to identify the key ingredients for a road ahead that can lead us toward a world free of nuclear weapons. The authors review historical efforts to deal with the challenge of nuclear weapons, with a focus on the momentous arms control negotiations between U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. They offer specific recommendations for reducing ri
£8.07
University of New Mexico Press The Day the Sun Rose Twice
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£17.06
Picador USA Hiroshima Nagasaki
Book SynopsisIn this harrowing history of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Paul Ham argues against the use of nuclear weapons, drawing on extensive research and hundreds of interviews to prove that the bombings had little impact on the eventual outcome of the Pacific War. In this gripping narrative, Ham demonstrates convincingly that misunderstandings and nationalist fury on both sides led to the use of the bombs. Ham also gives powerful witness to its destruction through the eyes of eighty survivors, from twelve-year-olds forced to work in war factories to wives and children who faced the holocaust alone. Hiroshima Nagasaki presents the grisly unadorned truth about the bombings, blurred for so long by postwar propaganda, and transforms our understanding of one of the defining events of the twentieth century.
£21.25
WW Norton & Co Atoms and Ashes A Global History of Nuclear
Book SynopsisA chilling account of more than half a century of nuclear catastrophes, by the author of the “definitive” (Economist) Cold War history, Nuclear Folly.Trade Review"Frightening.... With catastrophic climate change bearing down on us, nuclear power has been promoted by some as an obvious solution, but this sobering history urges us to look hard at that bargain for what it is." -- Jennifer Szalai - New York Times"[An] enthralling study of the atomic age and its perils.... A meticulously researched history ... [and] also a timely read." -- Lawrence Freedman - Financial Times"Expertly concise." -- Robin McKie - The Observer"Absolutely stunning. Atoms and Ashes is a formidable achievement. The prolific Serhii Plokhy has written a six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen. We have survived the Nuclear Age for three-quarters of a century, but this book calmly reminds us that accidents happen—and will surely happen again. Plokhy’s stories of nuclear accidents are riveting and frightening." -- Kai Bird, director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography and coauthor of the Pulitzer Prize–winning American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer"Gripping.... [An] authoritative history.... Shelve this excellent account next to James Mahaffey’s Atomic Accidents and Kate Brown’s Plutopia. Hair-raising, instructive, and irresistible reading." -- Kirkus, starred review"While considering the possible future of nuclear power, Plokhy ... reviews lessons learned from the most serious nuclear disasters since the end of WWII.... [He] asks whether nuclear energy is a viable path forward, considering all the risks." -- Booklist, starred review"Stunning.... Plokhy lucidly explains complex scientific and technical procedures and draws sharp profiles of key players in each episode. This well-informed study strikes a note of caution about the nuclear future." -- Publishers Weekly
£20.89
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The First Atomic Bomb
Book SynopsisA highly accurate, thoroughly researched, alternate history.
£25.00
Johns Hopkins University Press The Bomb and Americas Missile Age
Book SynopsisHow nuclear weapons helped drive the United States into the missile age. The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), designed to quickly deliver thermonuclear weapons to distant targets, was the central weapons system of the Cold War. ICBMs also carried the first astronauts and cosmonauts into orbit. More than a generation later, we are still living with the political, technological, and scientific effects of the space race, while nuclear-armed ICBMs remain on alert and in the headlines around the world. In The Bomb and America's Missile Age, Christopher Gainor explores the US Air Force's (USAF) decision, in March 1954, to build the Atlas, America's first ICBM. Beginning with the story of the guided missiles that were created before and during World War II, Gainor describes how the early Soviet and American rocket programs evolved over the course of the following decade. He argues that the USAF was wrongly criticized for unduly delaying the start of its ICBM program, endangeringTable of ContentsPreface Introduction 1. Weapons of the Future 2. The Bomb and the Military in the Postwar World 3. Missiles in the Postwar Years 4. Tentative Steps on Rockets 5. Missiles in Question 6. Truman Moves on Missiles 7. The Revival of Ballistic Missiles 8. ICBMs Get the Go-Ahead 9. Deploying ICBMs 10. The Space Race Historiographical Essay: The Atlas in HistoryNotesBibliographyIndex
£43.00
Arcadia Publishing Nevada Test Site Images of America
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£21.24
History Press The Manhattan Project Trinity Test
£18.69
History Press Cold War Illinois
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£18.69
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear
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£16.58
PublicAffairs Fallout: Conspiracy, Cover-Up, and the Deceitful
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£24.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Skybolt: At Arms Length
Book SynopsisThe untold story of the hitherto secret projects that lead to the development of inertial navigation in the UK, and the many missiles that were designed for the RAF's bomber force. The result was the Blue Steel missile, which was deployed in 1963. These were cruise type missiles, and in 1959 the RAF decided to participate in the American Skybolt air launched ballistic missile. But Skybolt was cancelled by the American Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, which brought about a crisis in Anglo-American relations, only resolved when the UK obtained Polaris on acceptable terms. The cancellation brought about another crisis: Polaris would not be available until 1969, and so short-term stop gaps were needed to tide over the British deterrent until then. Many potential projects are examined in the book. But what if the UK had not been able to obtain Polaris on acceptable terms? The final chapters examine what options would have been open to Britain: ground based missiles or air launched missiles? What part could the TSR 2 have played in this? The book is the result of much archival research, and there are extensive quotes from contemporary documents to illustrate the thinking of the time.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1 Background; 2 Britain's First Stand-Off Missile: Blue Steel; 3 The Rise and Fall of Blue Streak; 4 Setting the scene for Skybolt; 5 The Origins of Skybolt; 6 The warhead; 7 No fight more bitter; 8 The VC 10 Airliner as a Skybolt Carrier; 9 An Insurance Policy-OR 1182, the last attempt at an all British deterrent; 10 Skybolt-The Test Firings; 11 Skybolt and the V bombers; 12 The Doubts Grow; 13 The Nassau Agreement: Kennedy and Macmillan Meet; 14 The Stop Gaps; 15 What If ... ?; 16 Tidying Up; 17 So what went wrong?; Appendix: The Memorandum of Understanding; Brief History of Skybolt from the British Perspective; Bibliography.
£23.75
