The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb and Its Proliferation

Thomas Reed, Danny Stillman

Zenith Press, Nov 10, 2010 - History - 400 pages

This is a political history of nuclear weapons from the discovery of fission in 1938 to the nuclear train wreck that seems to loom in our future.  It is an account of where those weapons came from, how the technology surprisingly and covertly spread, and who is likely to acquire those weapons next and most importantly why.

The authors’ examination of post Cold War national and geopolitical issues regarding nuclear proliferation and the effects of Chinese sponsorship of the Pakistani program is eye opening. The reckless “nuclear weapons programs for sale” exporting of technology by Pakistan is truly chilling, as is the on-again off-again North Korean nuclear weapons program.

Contents

• PROLOGUE: 2
• BIG NEWS FISSION RELEASES NEUTRONS: 8
• LOS ALAMOS A FIRST BUT NOT THE LAST: 12
• THE RAIDS ON JAPAN: 20
• THE USSR AND THE UNITED KINGDOM UNINTENDED PARTNERS: 26
• FIRST ATTEMPTS AT CONTROLS: 54
• FRANCE AND ISRAEL THE APPRENTICES: 68
• CHINA BREAKS THE EUROPEAN CARTEL: 84
• NUCLEAR MATURITY COMES TO THE LITTLE THREE: 114
• STRUGGLING WITH THE BARN DOOR: 132
• CHANGES OF STATE IN THE MIDEAST AND SOUTH ASIA: 148
• SOUTH AFRICA: 170
• THE SOVIET UNION: 186
• THE ONCENUCLEAR SOVIET REPUBLICS: 204
• CHINAS DECADE OF NUCLEAR TRANSPARENCY: 220
• THE FAKIRS INDIA PAKISTAN AND NORTH KOREA: 236
• FINGERPRINTS: 268
• STAR AND CRESCENT RISING: 278
• GEORGESANTOINE KURTZ IS ALIVE AND WELL: 302
• WHY?: 312
• EPILOGUE: 320
• GLOSSARY: 332
• APPENDICES: 340
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 382
• INDEX: 385

About the author

Danny B. Stillman is a Los Alamos physicist with decades of experience in nuclear design, diagnostics, and testing. For thirteen years Stillman directed the Los Alamos Technical Intelligence Division; at the end of that tour he was awarded the Intelligence Community Seal Medallion. Stillman is an engineering physics graduate of University of Washington. He lives in White Rock, New Mexico.

Thomas C. Reed is a former nuclear weapons designer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Secretary of the Air Force under Ford and Carter, and Special Assistant to President Reagan for National Security Policy. Reed's previous book is At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War. He resides in northern California.Danny B. Stillman is a Los Alamos physicist with decades of experience in nuclear design, diagnostics, and testing. For thirteen years Stillman directed the Los Alamos Technical Intelligence Division; at the end of that tour, he was awarded the Intelligence Community Seal Medallion. He lives in White Rock, New Mexico.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb and Its Proliferation
• Authors: Thomas Reed, Danny Stillman
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Zenith Press, 2010
• ISBN: 1616732423, 9781616732424
• Length: 400 pages
• Subjects: History / Modern / 20th Century / General