Research Catalog

Stalin and the bomb : the Soviet Union and atomic energy, 1939-56

Title: Stalin and the bomb : the Soviet Union and atomic energy, 1939-56 / David Holloway.
Author: Holloway, David, 1943-
Publication: New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, 1994.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	UA770 .H632 1994	Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 464 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"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."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

Science and state > Soviet Union > History
Nuclear weapons > Government policy > Soviet Union > History
Soviet Union > Foreign relations
Nuclear energy > Research > Soviet Union > History

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

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.

ISBN

0300060564
0300066643 (pbk.)
9780300066647 (pbk.)

LCCN

94008216

OCLC

191730513
ocn191730513

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries