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

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 ultimate...