Nuclear Weapons: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

161 Pages·2008·0.7 MB·English

by  Joseph M. Siracusa

Nuclear Weapons: A Very Short Introduction
VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating
and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have
been published in more than 25 languages worldwide.
The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics in
history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. Over the next
few years it will grow to a library of around 200 volumes – a Very Short
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Very Short Introductions available now:
AFRICAN HISTORY CHAOS Leonard Smith
John Parker and Richard Rathbone CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham
AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson
AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY CLASSICS
Charles O. Jones Mary Beard and John Henderson
ANARCHISM Colin Ward CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw Helen Morales
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard
ANCIENT WARFARE THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon
Harry Sidebottom CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore
ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman CONTEMPORARY ART
THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Blair Julian Stallabrass
ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY
ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller Simon Critchley
ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn COSMOLOGY Peter Coles
ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman
ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes CRYPTOGRAPHY
ART HISTORY Dana Arnold Fred Piper and Sean Murphy
ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland DADA AND SURREALISM
THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY David Hopkins
Michael Hoskin DARWIN Jonathan Howard
ATHEISM Julian Baggini THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Timothy Lim
AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick
BARTHES Jonathan Culler DESCARTES Tom Sorell
BESTSELLERS John Sutherland DESIGN John Heskett
THE BIBLE John Riches DINOSAURS David Norman
THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea DOCUMENTARY FILM
BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright Patricia Aufderheide
BUDDHA Michael Carrithers DREAMING J. Allan Hobson
BUDDHISM Damien Keown DRUGS Leslie Iversen
BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown THE EARTH Martin Redfern
CAPITALISM James Fulcher ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta
THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Paul Langford Paul Wilkinson
THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball ISLAM Malise Ruthven
EMOTION Dylan Evans JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves
EMPIRE Stephen Howe JUDAISM Norman Solomon
ENGELS Terrell Carver JUNG Anthony Stevens
ETHICS Simon Blackburn KABBALAH Joseph Dan
THE EUROPEAN UNION KAFKA Ritchie Robertson
John Pinder and Simon Usherwood KANT Roger Scruton
EVOLUTION KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner
Brian and Deborah Charlesworth THE KORAN Michael Cook
EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn LAW Raymond Wacks
FASCISM Kevin Passmore LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews
FEMINISM Margaret Walters LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler
THE FIRST WORLD WAR LOCKE John Dunn
Michael Howard LOGIC Graham Priest
FOSSILS Keith Thomson MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner
FOUCAULT Gary Gutting THE MARQUIS DE SADE John Phillips
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION MARX Peter Singer
William Doyle MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers
FREE WILL Thomas Pink MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope
FREUD Anthony Storr MEDIEVAL BRITAIN
FUNDAMENTALISM Malise Ruthven John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths
GALAXIES John Gribbin MODERN ART David Cottington
GALILEO Stillman Drake MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter
GAME THEORY Ken Binmore MODERN IRELAND Senia Pašeta
GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh MOLECULES Philip Ball
GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds MUSIC Nicholas Cook
GERMAN LITERATURE Nicholas Boyle MYTH Robert A. Segal
GLOBAL CATASTROPHES Bill McGuire NATIONALISM Steven Grosby
GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger THE NEW TESTAMENT AS
GLOBAL WARMING Mark Maslin LITERATURE Kyle Keefer
THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND NEWTON Robert Iliffe
THE NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner
HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN
HEGEL Peter Singer Christopher Harvie and
HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood H. C. G. Matthew
HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson NORTHERN IRELAND
HINDUISM Kim Knott Marc Mulholland
HISTORY John H. Arnold NUCLEAR WEAPONS
HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside Joseph M. Siracusa
HOBBES Richard Tuck PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close
HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood PAUL E. P. Sanders
HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig
HUME A. J. Ayer PHILOSOPHY OF LAW
IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden Raymond Wacks
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary Samir Okasha
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards
Khalid Koser PLATO Julia Annas
POLITICS Kenneth Minogue SCHIZOPHRENIA
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone
David Miller SCHOPENHAUER Christopher Janaway
POSTCOLONIALISM Robert Young SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer
POSTMODERNISM SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt
Christopher Butler SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
POSTSTRUCTURALISM ANTHROPOLOGY
Catherine Belsey John Monaghan and Peter Just
PREHISTORY Chris Gosden SOCIALISM Michael Newman
PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce
Catherine Osborne SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor
PSYCHOLOGY THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
Gillian Butler and Freda McManus Helen Graham
PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns SPINOZA Roger Scruton
THE QUAKERS Pink Dandelion STUART BRITAIN John Morrill
QUANTUM THEORY TERRORISM Charles Townshend
John Polkinghorne THEOLOGY David F. Ford
RACISM Ali Rattansi THE HISTORY OF TIME
THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton Leofranc Holford-Strevens
RENAISSANCE ART TRAGEDY Adrian Poole
Geraldine A. Johnson THE TUDORS John Guy
ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITAIN
THE ROMAN EMPIRE Kenneth O. Morgan
Christopher Kelly THE VIKINGS Julian Richards
ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler WITTGENSTEIN A. C. Grayling
RUSSELL A. C. Grayling WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman
RUSSIAN LITERATURE Catriona Kelly THE WORLD TRADE
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION ORGANIZATION
S. A. Smith Amrita Narlikar
Available soon:
1066 George Garnett NELSON MANDELA
EXPRESSIONISM Katerina Reed-Tsocha Elleke Boehmer
GEOGRAPHY SCIENCE AND RELIGION
John Matthews and David Herbert Thomas Dixon
HISTORY OF MEDICINE SEXUALITY Véronique Mottier
William Bynum THE MEANING OF LIFE
MEMORY Jonathan Foster Terry Eagleton
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Joseph M. Siracusa
Nuclear
Weapons
A Very Short Introduction
1
1
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 Joseph M. Siracusa 2008
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ISBN 978–0–19–922954–3
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For my wife, Candice
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Contents
Preface xi
List of illustrations xv
1 What are nuclear weapons? 1
2 Building the bomb 10
3 ‘A choice between the quick and the dead’ 27
4 Race for the H-bomb 40
5 Nuclear deterrence and arms control 61
6 Star Wars 82
7 Nuclear weapons in the age of terrorism 108
References and further reading 130
Index 139