Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939-1956

Synopsis

In Engrossing Detail, David Holloway Tells Us How Stalin Launched A Crash Atomic Program Only After The Americans Bombed Hiroshima And Showed That The Bomb Could Be Built; How The Information Handed Over To The Soviets By Klaus Fuchs Helped In The Creation Of Their Bomb; How The Scientific Intelligentsia, Which Included Such Men As Andrei Sakharov, Interacted With The Police Apparatus Headed By The Suspicious And Menacing Lavrentii Beria; What Steps Stalin Took To Counter U.s. Atomic Diplomacy; How The Nuclear Project Saved Soviet Physics And Enabled It To Survive As An Island Of Intellectual Autonomy In A Totalitarian Society; And What Happened When, After Stalin's Death, Soviet Scientists Argued That A Nuclear War Might Extinguish All Life On Earth. This Magisterial History Throws Light On Soviet Policy At The Height Of The Cold War, Illuminates A Central But Hitherto Secret Element Of The Stalinist System, And Puts Into Perspective The Tragic Legacy Of This Program - Today Environmental Damage, A Network Of Secret Cities, And A Huge Stockpile Of Unwanted Weapons. 1. Ioffe's Institute -- 2. Nuclear Prehistory -- 3. Reacting To Fission -- 4. Making A Decision -- 5. Getting Started -- 6. Hiroshima -- 7. The Post-hiroshima Project -- 8. The Premises Of Policy -- 9. The Atomic Industry -- 10. The Atomic Bomb -- 11. War And The Atomic Bomb -- 12. The War Of Nerves -- 13. Dangerous Relations -- 14. The Hydrogen Bomb -- 15. After Stalin -- 16. The Atom And Peace. David Holloway. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 375-446) And Index.