Red Cloud at Dawn: Truman, Stalin, and the End of the Atomic Monopoly

Red Cloud at Dawn: Truman, Stalin, and the End of the Atomic Monopoly

by Michael D. Gordin
Red Cloud at Dawn: Truman, Stalin, and the End of the Atomic Monopoly

Red Cloud at Dawn: Truman, Stalin, and the End of the Atomic Monopoly

by Michael D. Gordin

Paperback(First Edition)

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Overview

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE

Following the trail of espionage and technological innovation, and making use of newly opened archives, Michael D. Gordin provides a new understanding of the origins of the nuclear arms race and fresh insight into the problem of proliferation.


On August 29, 1949, the first Soviet test bomb, dubbed "First Lightning," exploded in the deserts of Kazakhstan. This surprising international event marked the beginning of an arms race that would ultimately lead to nuclear proliferation beyond the two superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States.

With the use of newly opened archives, Michael D. Gordin folows a trail of espionage, secrecy, deception, political brinksmanship, and technical innovation to provide a fresh understanding of the nuclear arms race.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780312655426
Publisher: Picador
Publication date: 11/23/2010
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 416
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michael D. Gordin is an associate professor of the history of science at Princeton University. He is the author of Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations xiii

Introduction What Happened at Potsdam 3

1 Atomic Monopoly 25

2 How Much Time Do We Have? 63

3 Larger Than Enormoz 89

4 First Lightning 133

5 Making Vermont 179

6 Dramatizing the Situation 214

7 The Year of Joe 247

Epilogue Traces and Tailings 285

Notes 307

Selected Sources 377

Acknowledgments 381

Index 383

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