Exporting the Bomb

Download Exporting the Bomb PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 0801458919
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Exporting the Bomb by : Matthew H. Kroenig

Download or read book Exporting the Bomb written by Matthew H. Kroenig and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-15 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a vitally important book for anyone interested in nuclear proliferation, defense strategy, or international security, Matthew Kroenig points out that nearly every country with a nuclear weapons arsenal received substantial help at some point from a more advanced nuclear state. Why do some countries help others to develop nuclear weapons? Many analysts assume that nuclear transfers are driven by economic considerations. States in dire economic need, they suggest, export sensitive nuclear materials and technology—and ignore the security risk—in a desperate search for hard currency. Kroenig challenges this conventional wisdom. He finds that state decisions to provide sensitive nuclear assistance are the result of a coherent, strategic logic. The spread of nuclear weapons threatens powerful states more than it threatens weak states, and these differential effects of nuclear proliferation encourage countries to provide sensitive nuclear assistance under certain strategic conditions. Countries are more likely to export sensitive nuclear materials and technology when it would have the effect of constraining an enemy and less likely to do so when it would threaten themselves. In Exporting the Bomb, Kroenig examines the most important historical cases, including France's nuclear assistance to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s; the Soviet Union's sensitive transfers to China from 1958 to 1960; China's nuclear aid to Pakistan in the 1980s; and Pakistan's recent technology transfers, with the help of "rogue" scientist A. Q. Khan, from 1987 to 2002. Understanding why states provide sensitive nuclear assistance not only adds to our knowledge of international politics but also aids in international efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons.

Exporting the Bomb

Download Exporting the Bomb PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 080145767X
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Exporting the Bomb by : Matthew H. Kroenig

Download or read book Exporting the Bomb written by Matthew H. Kroenig and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-15 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a vitally important book for anyone interested in nuclear proliferation, defense strategy, or international security, Matthew Kroenig points out that nearly every country with a nuclear weapons arsenal received substantial help at some point from a more advanced nuclear state. Why do some countries help others to develop nuclear weapons? Many analysts assume that nuclear transfers are driven by economic considerations. States in dire economic need, they suggest, export sensitive nuclear materials and technology—and ignore the security risk—in a desperate search for hard currency. Kroenig challenges this conventional wisdom. He finds that state decisions to provide sensitive nuclear assistance are the result of a coherent, strategic logic. The spread of nuclear weapons threatens powerful states more than it threatens weak states, and these differential effects of nuclear proliferation encourage countries to provide sensitive nuclear assistance under certain strategic conditions. Countries are more likely to export sensitive nuclear materials and technology when it would have the effect of constraining an enemy and less likely to do so when it would threaten themselves. In Exporting the Bomb, Kroenig examines the most important historical cases, including France's nuclear assistance to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s; the Soviet Union's sensitive transfers to China from 1958 to 1960; China's nuclear aid to Pakistan in the 1980s; and Pakistan's recent technology transfers, with the help of "rogue" scientist A. Q. Khan, from 1987 to 2002. Understanding why states provide sensitive nuclear assistance not only adds to our knowledge of international politics but also aids in international efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons.

The Nuclear Express

Download The Nuclear Express PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Zenith Press
ISBN 13 : 1616732423
Total Pages : 407 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (167 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Nuclear Express by : Thomas Reed

Download or read book The Nuclear Express written by Thomas Reed and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2010-11-10 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Better Safe Than Sorry

Download Better Safe Than Sorry PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0804770980
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (47 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Better Safe Than Sorry by : Michael Krepon

Download or read book Better Safe Than Sorry written by Michael Krepon and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2008, the iconic doomsday clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientistswas set at five minutes to midnight—two minutes closer to Armageddon than in 1962, when John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev went eyeball to eyeball over missiles in Cuba! We still live in an echo chamber of fear, after eight years in which the Bush administration and its harshest critics reinforced each other's worst fears about the Bomb. And yet, there have been no mushroom clouds or acts of nuclear terrorism since the Soviet Union dissolved, let alone since 9/11. Our worst fears still could be realized at any time, but Michael Krepon argues that the United States has never possessed more tools and capacity to reduce nuclear dangers than it does today - from containment and deterrence to diplomacy, military strength, and arms control. The bloated nuclear arsenals of the Cold War years have been greatly reduced, nuclear weapon testing has almost ended, and all but eight countries have pledged not to acquire the Bomb. Major powers have less use for the Bomb than at any time in the past. Thus, despite wars, crises, and Murphy's Law, the dark shadows cast by nuclear weapons can continue to recede. Krepon believes that positive trends can continue, even in the face of the twin threats of nuclear terrorism and proliferation that have been exacerbated by the Bush administration's pursuit of a war of choice in Iraq based on false assumptions. Krepon advocates a "back to basics" approach to reducing nuclear dangers, reversing the Bush administration's denigration of diplomacy, deterrence, containment, and arms control. As he sees it, "The United States has stumbled before, but America has also made it through hard times and rebounded. With wisdom, persistence, and luck, another dark passage can be successfully navigated."

A Time to Attack

Download A Time to Attack PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1137279532
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (372 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Time to Attack by : Matthew Kroenig

Download or read book A Time to Attack written by Matthew Kroenig and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-05-13 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does it mean for Iran to have nuclear weapon capabilities? And what should the United States do about this threatening situation?

Building the Bombs

Download Building the Bombs PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : United States Government Printing
ISBN 13 : 9780160671876
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (718 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Building the Bombs by : Charles R. Loeber

Download or read book Building the Bombs written by Charles R. Loeber and published by United States Government Printing. This book was released on 2002-07-01 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the Nuclear Weapons Complex (NWC), a nationwide group of gov't.-owned and contractor-operated labs. and production plants. The NWC evolved to meet our nat. security requirements, which were driven by WW2 and the Cold War, and also shaped by the need to incorp. new technol. into the nuclear weapons (NW) stockpile and to maintain this stockpile after the Cold War was over. This book explains the basic principles on which NW operate, along with the major technol. changes that were incorp. to improve the performance, safety, and security of U.S. NW. Contains info. on other topics: Nazi Germany's atomic bomb program, espionage during the Manhattan project, NW accidents, and worldwide nuclear tests. Glossary. Color and B&W photos.

Command and Control

Download Command and Control PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101638664
Total Pages : 702 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (16 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Command and Control by : Eric Schlosser

Download or read book Command and Control written by Eric Schlosser and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 702 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oscar-shortlisted documentary Command and Control, directed by Robert Kenner, finds its origins in Eric Schlosser's book and continues to explore the little-known history of the management and safety concerns of America's nuclear aresenal. “A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. Fascinating.” —Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine “Perilous and gripping . . . Schlosser skillfully weaves together an engrossing account of both the science and the politics of nuclear weapons safety.” —San Francisco Chronicle A myth-shattering exposé of America’s nuclear weapons Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America’s nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved—and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind. While the harms of global warming increasingly dominate the news, the equally dangerous yet more immediate threat of nuclear weapons has been largely forgotten. Written with the vibrancy of a first-rate thriller, Command and Control interweaves the minute-by-minute story of an accident at a nuclear missile silo in rural Arkansas with a historical narrative that spans more than fifty years. It depicts the urgent effort by American scientists, policy makers, and military officers to ensure that nuclear weapons can’t be stolen, sabotaged, used without permission, or detonated inadvertently. Schlosser also looks at the Cold War from a new perspective, offering history from the ground up, telling the stories of bomber pilots, missile commanders, maintenance crews, and other ordinary servicemen who risked their lives to avert a nuclear holocaust. At the heart of the book lies the struggle, amid the rolling hills and small farms of Damascus, Arkansas, to prevent the explosion of a ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead ever built by the United States. Drawing on recently declassified documents and interviews with people who designed and routinely handled nuclear weapons, Command and Control takes readers into a terrifying but fascinating world that, until now, has been largely hidden from view. Through the details of a single accident, Schlosser illustrates how an unlikely event can become unavoidable, how small risks can have terrible consequences, and how the most brilliant minds in the nation can only provide us with an illusion of control. Audacious, gripping, and unforgettable, Command and Control is a tour de force of investigative journalism, an eye-opening look at the dangers of America’s nuclear age.

Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation

Download Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 100020054X
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (2 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation by : Allan S. Krass

Download or read book Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation written by Allan S. Krass and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-20 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1983, this book presents both the technical and political information necessary to evaluate the emerging threat to world security posed by recent advances in uranium enrichment technology. Uranium enrichment has played a relatively quiet but important role in the history of efforts by a number of nations to acquire nuclear weapons and by a number of others to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. For many years the uranium enrichment industry was dominated by a single method, gaseous diffusion, which was technically complex, extremely capital-intensive, and highly inefficient in its use of energy. As long as this remained true, only the richest and most technically advanced nations could afford to pursue the enrichment route to weapon acquisition. But during the 1970s this situation changed dramatically. Several new and far more accessible enrichment techniques were developed, stimulated largely by the anticipation of a rapidly growing demand for enrichment services by the world-wide nuclear power industry. This proliferation of new techniques, coupled with the subsequent contraction of the commercial market for enriched uranium, has created a situation in which uranium enrichment technology might well become the most important contributor to further nuclear weapon proliferation. Some of the issues addressed in this book are: A technical analysis of the most important enrichment techniques in a form that is relevant to analysis of proliferation risks; A detailed projection of the world demand for uranium enrichment services; A summary and critique of present institutional non-proliferation arrangements in the world enrichment industry, and An identification of the states most likely to pursue the enrichment route to acquisition of nuclear weapons.

Go With Me

Download Go With Me PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Steerforth
ISBN 13 : 1586421522
Total Pages : 178 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (864 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Go With Me by : Castle Freeman, Jr.

Download or read book Go With Me written by Castle Freeman, Jr. and published by Steerforth. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING ANTHONY HOPKINS Set in the unforgiving Vermont wilderness, this is a “gripping, taut tale of suspense . . . that sparkles with sly insight and cuts like a knife”—for fans of Cormac McCarthy (The Boston Globe) The Vermont hill country is the stark, vivid setting for this gripping and entertaining story of bold determination. The local villain, Blackway, is making life hellish for Lillian, a young woman from parts elsewhere. Her boyfriend has fled the state in fear, and local law enforcement can do nothing to protect her. She resolves, however, to stand her ground, and to fight back. A pair of unlikely allies—Lester, a crafty old-timer, and Nate, a powerful but naive youth—join her cause, understanding that there is no point in taking up the challenge unless you’re willing to “go through.” In this modern-day drama, a kind of Greek chorus—wry, witty, digressive; obsessively, amusingly reminiscent; skeptical, opinionated, and not always entirely sober—enriches the telling of this unforgettable tale as the reader follows the threesome’s progress on their dangerous, suspenseful quest.

The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy

Download The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190849185
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy by : Matthew Kroenig

Download or read book The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy written by Matthew Kroenig and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For decades, the reigning scholarly wisdom about nuclear weapons policy has been that the United States only needs the ability to absorb an enemy nuclear attack and still be able to respond with a devastating counterattack. So long as the US, or any other nation, retains such an assured retaliation capability, no sane leader would intentionally launch a nuclear attack against it, and nuclear deterrence will hold. According to this theory, possessing more weapons than necessary for a second-strike capability is illogical. This argument is reasonable, but, when compared to the empirical record, it raises an important puzzle. Empirically, we see that the United States has always maintained a nuclear posture that is much more robust than a mere second-strike capability. In The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy, Matthew Kroenig challenges the conventional wisdom and explains why a robust nuclear posture, above and beyond a mere second-strike capability, contributes to a state's national security goals. In fact, when a state has a robust nuclear weapons force, such a capability reduces its expected costs in a war, provides it with bargaining leverage, and ultimately enhances nuclear deterrence. This book provides a novel theoretical explanation for why military nuclear advantages translate into geopolitical advantages. In so doing, it helps resolve one of the most-intractable puzzles in international security studies. Buoyed by an innovative thesis and a vast array of historical and quantitative evidence, The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy will force scholars to reconsider their basic assumptions about the logic of nuclear deterrence.

Seeking the Bomb

Download Seeking the Bomb PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691172625
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Seeking the Bomb by : Vipin Narang

Download or read book Seeking the Bomb written by Vipin Narang and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first systematic look at the different strategies that states employ in their pursuit of nuclear weapons Much of the work on nuclear proliferation has focused on why states pursue nuclear weapons. The question of how states pursue nuclear weapons has received little attention. Seeking the Bomb is the first book to analyze this topic by examining which strategies of nuclear proliferation are available to aspirants, why aspirants select one strategy over another, and how this matters to international politics. Looking at a wide range of nations, from India and Japan to the Soviet Union and North Korea to Iraq and Iran, Vipin Narang develops an original typology of proliferation strategies—hedging, sprinting, sheltered pursuit, and hiding. Each strategy of proliferation provides different opportunities for the development of nuclear weapons, while at the same time presenting distinct vulnerabilities that can be exploited to prevent states from doing so. Narang delves into the crucial implications these strategies have for nuclear proliferation and international security. Hiders, for example, are especially disruptive since either they successfully attain nuclear weapons, irrevocably altering the global power structure, or they are discovered, potentially triggering serious crises or war, as external powers try to halt or reverse a previously clandestine nuclear weapons program. As the international community confronts the next generation of potential nuclear proliferators, Seeking the Bomb explores how global conflict and stability are shaped by the ruthlessly pragmatic ways states choose strategies of proliferation.

Technology and International Transformation

Download Technology and International Transformation PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 0791481158
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (914 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Technology and International Transformation by : Geoffrey L. Herrera

Download or read book Technology and International Transformation written by Geoffrey L. Herrera and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During an era in which the pace of technological change is unrelenting, understanding how international politics both shapes and is shaped by technology is crucial. Drawing on international relations theory, historical sociology, and the history of technology, Geoffrey L. Herrera offers an ambitious, theoretically sophisticated, and historically rich examination of the interrelation between technology and international politics. He explores the development of the railroad in the nineteenth century and the atomic bomb in the twentieth century to show that technologies do not stand apart from, but are intimately related to, even defined by, international politics.

Command Of The Air

Download Command Of The Air PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1782898522
Total Pages : 620 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (828 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Command Of The Air by : General Giulio Douhet

Download or read book Command Of The Air written by General Giulio Douhet and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.

Atomic Bomb: The Story of the Manhattan Project

Download Atomic Bomb: The Story of the Manhattan Project PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Morgan & Claypool Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1627059911
Total Pages : 142 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (27 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Atomic Bomb: The Story of the Manhattan Project by : Bruce Cameron Reed

Download or read book Atomic Bomb: The Story of the Manhattan Project written by Bruce Cameron Reed and published by Morgan & Claypool Publishers. This book was released on 2015-06-01 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume, prepared by an acknowledged expert on the Manhattan Project, gives a concise, fast-paced account of all major aspects of the project at a level accessible to an undergraduate college or advanced high-school student familiar with some basic concepts of energy, atomic structure, and isotopes. The text describes the underlying scientific discoveries that made nuclear weapons possible, how the project was organized, the daunting challenges faced and overcome in obtaining fissile uranium and plutonium, and in designing workable bombs, the dramatic Trinity test carried out in the desert of southern New Mexico in July 1945, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Racing for the Bomb

Download Racing for the Bomb PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Steerforth Italia
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 782 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (555 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Racing for the Bomb by : Robert Stan Norris

Download or read book Racing for the Bomb written by Robert Stan Norris and published by Steerforth Italia. This book was released on 2002 with total page 782 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colonel Leslie R. Groves was a career officer in the Army Corps of Engineers, fresh from over-seeing hundreds of military construction projects, including the Pentagon, when he was given the job in September 1942 of building the atomic bomb. In this full-scale biography, Norris places Groves at the centre of the amazing Manhattan Project story. Offering new information and vital insights into how the bomb got built and how the decision to use it was made, this is a completely new perspective on the military colossus behind the U.S.'s first nuclear bombs.

The Manhattan Project

Download The Manhattan Project PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0788178806
Total Pages : 75 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (881 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Manhattan Project by : Francis George Gosling

Download or read book The Manhattan Project written by Francis George Gosling and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1999 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the origins and development of the American atomic bomb program during WWII. Begins with the scientific developments of the pre-war years. Details the role of the U.S. government in conducting a secret, nationwide enterprise that took science from the laboratory and into combat with an entirely new type of weapon. Concludes with a discussion of the immediate postwar period, the debate over the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, and the founding of the Atomic Energy Commission. Chapters: the Einstein letter; physics background, 1919-1939; early government support; the atomic bomb and American strategy; and the Manhattan district in peacetime. Illustrated.

In the Shadow of the Bomb

Download In the Shadow of the Bomb PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400849497
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis In the Shadow of the Bomb by : S. S. Schweber

Download or read book In the Shadow of the Bomb written by S. S. Schweber and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How two charismatic, exceptionally talented physicists came to terms with the nuclear weapons they helped to create In 1945, the United States dropped the bomb, and physicists were forced to contemplate disquieting questions about their roles and responsibilities. When the Cold War followed, they were confronted with political demands for their loyalty and McCarthyism's threats to academic freedom. By examining how J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hans A. Bethe—two men with similar backgrounds but divergent aspirations and characters—struggled with these moral dilemmas, one of our foremost historians of physics tells the story of modern physics, the development of atomic weapons, and the Cold War. Oppenheimer and Bethe led parallel lives. Both received liberal educations that emphasized moral as well as intellectual growth. Both were outstanding theoreticians who worked on the atom bomb at Los Alamos. Both advised the government on nuclear issues, and both resisted the development of the hydrogen bomb. Both were, in their youth, sympathetic to liberal causes, and both were later called to defend the United States against Soviet communism and colleagues against anti-Communist crusaders. Finally, both prized scientific community as a salve to the apparent failure of Enlightenment values. Yet their responses to the use of the atom bomb, the testing of the hydrogen bomb, and the treachery of domestic politics differed markedly. Bethe, who drew confidence from scientific achievement and integration into the physics community, preserved a deep integrity. By accepting a modest role, he continued to influence policy and contributed to the nuclear test ban treaty of 1963. In contrast, Oppenheimer first embodied a new scientific persona—the scientist who creates knowledge and technology affecting all humanity and boldly addresses their impact—and then could not carry its burden. His desire to retain insider status, combined with his isolation from creative work and collegial scientific community, led him to compromise principles and, ironically, to lose prestige and fall victim to other insiders. S. S. Schweber draws on his vast knowledge of science and its history—in addition to his unique access to the personalities involved—to tell a tale of two men that will enthrall readers interested in science, history, and the lives and minds of great thinkers.