The Bomb: A New History

by Steven M. Younger

Overview

A former Los Alamos weapons designer shares "an indispensable guide to the science and strategy of nuclear weapons" (Booklist).
From his years at Los Alamos and the Nevada Test Site to his meetings with nuclear arms experts in Moscow, former weapons designer Stephen M. Younger has witnessed firsthand the making of nuclear policy. With a deep understanding of both the technology and the politics behind nuclear weapons, he guides us from the Manhattan Project to the Cold War and into the present day, illuminating how nuclear weapons fit into our globalized, war-plagued world.
With startling clarity, Younger reveals how weapons work, the myths and realities of what happens after a nuclear explosion, and how our nuclear policy evolved to what it is today. In an era when rogue nations like North Korean and Iran strive to create their own precarious weapons programs, Younger provides much-needed background and insight for students, policy makers, and readers who wish to better understand the important issues involving nuclear weapons and national security.
"Younger has provided an insightful guide, especially for the general reader, into today's array of nuclear powers and their capabilities." —James Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Energy

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061984129
Publisher:	HarperCollins e-books
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	253
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Stephen M. Younger is a senior policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He recently retired as a senior fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he was in charge of nuclear weapons research and development. From 2001 to 2004, he was director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency at the U.S. Department of Defense. He lives in Las Vegas.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgments xi

Author's Note xii

Introduction: Why Nuclear Weapons in the Twenty-first Century? 1

1 A Short History of Nuclear Weapons 13

2 How Did We Arrive at the Theory of Mutually Assured Destruction? 45

3 Current Nuclear Arsenals 69

4 Targets and Targeting 98

5 Replacing Nuclear Weapons with Advanced Conventional Weapons 117

6 Nuclear Proliferation 133

7 Defense Against Nuclear Attack 156

8 Maintaining Our Nuclear Forces 174

9 The Role of Nuclear Weapons in the Twenty-first Century 198

Index 221