Nuclear Weapons: A Very Short Introduction covers the scientific, historical, and political development of nuclear weapons, and how they transformed the very nature of war and peace. Nuclear weapons have not been used in anger since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, seventy-five years ago. However, nuclear threats remain fundamental to relations between many states, complicating issues of global security. Their potential use by terrorists is an increasing concern. This book looks at the race to acquire the hydrogen bomb; Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defence Initiative (‘Star Wars’); contemporary defences against possible ballistic missile launches; and the policies nuclear weapons have generated since the end of the Cold War.
