The United States took almost a decade after Hiroshima and Nagasaki to develop a coherent strategy of nuclear deterrence. This comprehensive study by two careful and well-informed historians provides the best explanation we have of why this process took so long; it also suggests the inherent difficulties of relying on nuclear weapons to provide security in the first place. Required reading for anyone interested in the early history of the nuclear era.

Preface - Onset of the Nuclear Age - The Search for Controls: Foreign and Domestic - Policy and Transition - 1948: Year of Crisis - Move and Counter-Move: The Development of a Nuclear Arsenal - Re-arming for the Cold War - SAC and the Anglo-American Connection - Conclusion - Note on Sources and Select Bibliography - Index