The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb and Its Proliferation

by Thomas C. Reed, Danny B. Stillman

This is a political history of nuclear weapons from the discovery of fission in 1938 to the nuclear train wreck that seems to loom in our future. It is an account of where those weapons came from, how the technology surprisingly and covertly spread, who is likely to acquire those weapons next and most importantly why.



The authors’ examination of post-Cold War national and geopolitical issues regarding nuclear proliferation and the effects of Chinese sponsorship of the Pakistani program is eye opening. The reckless “nuclear weapons programs for sale” exporting of technology by Pakistan is truly chilling as is the on again off again North Korean nuclear weapons program.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Science, Military Fiction, Politics

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 2, 2009

Reviews

[Gabriel Schoenfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors are nuclear-weapons designers, not students of international relations -- and it shows. When they depart from their discussion of technology and enter the realm of politics, they make many strong assertions, some of which are questionable or worse. Tracing the flow of technology from Islamabad to Riyadh, for example, Reed and Stillman tell us that "the peoples of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are culturally close, indistinguishable in person." Wrong on both counts.

The authors are at their best when describing what they know well: the inner workings of these frightening devices. For anyone wishing to understand why, say, the U.S. "Bravo" test of March 1, 1954, was three times more powerful than planned, "The Nuclear Express" is a useful source. The story of Bravo has been told before by others, but it is worth hearing again, especially from writers with a thorough knowledge of the technology involved. This book may be unsteady when it ventures into political analysis, but it is sufficiently steady to make plain that allowing the nuclear express to keep roaring ahead would be a much bigger mistake, with much bigger consequences.

[Alexander Temerev · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic account of French, Israeli, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese and North Korean nuclear programs — this information hardly available in other books. The authors indulge themselves to some
opinionated writing and speculations, but it doesn’t make this book any less interesting.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed it from a friend and it was good enough and informative enough that I wanted to have it on my shelf for future reference, so I bought it. An excellent general overview of the early history of all the nuclear powers' programs, and subsequent proliferation.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazone

I was looking forward to a strong history of nuclear weapons, but it was half history and half non-proliferation screed. I would have preferred better organization of the historical bits, which probably would have made the non-proliferation argument appear less forced.

Matthew

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Read for technical understanding of how bomb technology has spread across the world and what it entails. Political insight is limited and often questionable.

Mohan

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The authors are nuclear-weapons designers, not students of international relations, and it shows.

When they depart from their discussion of technology and enter the realm of politics, they make many strong assertions, some of which are questionable or worse.

Tracing the flow of technology from Islamabad to Riyadh, for example, Reed and Stillman tell us that "the peoples of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are culturally close, indistinguishable in person." Wrong on both counts.

Gabriel

[Eugene Miya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Authored by 2 weaponeers from LLNL and LANL, these designers covers some of the post-Manhattan Project history of some of the countries who came after the USA up to the point of Pakistan and A.Q. Khan and just before NK.

They noted the initial openness of the Chinese nuclear program in the first decade of openness.

[Esteban · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, but slow to read at times. Confusing depiction of timelines.

[Gary Misch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just about everything that the average layman might want to know about nuclear weapons is in this book, from early experiments, through uranium mining, bomb development, into proliferation in nations such as Israel, North Korea, India, and Pakistan, plus the proliferation that might have happened, but didn't, in places like Brazil. Uranium smuggling, the I. Q. Khan weapons plan and equipment smuggling network, the forged letter suggesting that Saddam Hussein had smuggled uranium ore from Niger - all these items are addressed. The author calls the book a political history - that's fair enough, but he addresses the early development of nuclear weapons, their single use, and the military considerations as well. Considering their level of destructiveness, any history of nuclear weapons would have to be either scientific or political. The reader gets treated to just a little science, as well.

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book does a fine job with putting nuclear proliferation into its proper political-historical context, thus enabling the reader to more broadly understand the issue. However, there were a few errors throughout the book that naturally make the reader question the correctness of everything else--for example the EIF date of the NPT is wrong in the chronology (should be 5 March 1970, not July), and the AP is not additional to the NPT, but additional to the state's comprehensive safeguards agreements.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fascinating exploration of modern history from the perspective of nuclear proliferation. I learned more about the last 60 years of the world than I ever did in school (maybe I should read a history book to see how biased this one was?). The most interesting part by far was that every society who has developed nuclear weapons has then turned and given it to another. Every single time. Amazing!

[EOB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed history of nuclear proliferation, with a manageable depth on the research science underlying. Author spends a lot of this book on his high horse about some of the more unforgivable historical crimes documented herein, but understandably so. A quality read if you are interested in the global history dynamics of proliferation of WMD, with a utilitarian dose of the underlying science and politics.

[Salem · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to a strong history of nuclear weapons, but it was half history and half non-proliferation screed. I would have preferred better organization of the historical bits, which probably would have made the non-proliferation argument appear less forced.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent narrative of the early 20th century scientific and political race to nukes. Later chapters spend time on each country and the espionage going back and forth. Appendices are great reference material. Good explanation of non-proliferation and suggestions for future strategies.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for anyone wanting to refresh their knowledge of how the international community made way for nuclear proliferation- or for anyone who is new to the topic. Reed and Stillman provide clear and concise information that make it a fascinating read.

[Eric_W]

Suggests that the Russians got the secret of the hydrogen bomb through spying rather than self-development.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative piece on the history and future of nuclear proliferation by two of the top nuclear experts in our Intelligence network.

[Brigitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't have a lot of time to write a review, but this was an interesting read. More than a little bit creepy.

[Aniruddh Mohan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for technical understanding of how bomb technology has spread across the world and what it entails. Political insight is limited and often questionable.

[Ronald Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative book about the proliferation of nuclear weapons since the second world war.

[Jessica Jones]

Read about on NYTimes.com

[Sampath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful work. great read.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent summary of the nuclear era. Covers a lot of ground with definite slant toward the value of nuclear weapons. While I disagree with their viewpoint, it was an excellent read and very informative.