Weapons of Peace: The Nuclear Arms Race Book

Discusses the development of nuclear weapons, the race for nuclear supremacy, deployment of these weapons during the Cold War, and disarmament.

Children's Literature

The age in which we live features ongoing fear about the potential use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorists or the leaders of rogue states. Yet, although fear of such cataclysmic actions is quite justified it is not a novel phenomenon. During the Cold War years that stretched from the end of World War Two to the dawning of the 1990's fear of nuclear war was both justified and realistic. In those decades the nuclear arsenals of many nations, and in particular the USA and the USSR, were aimed at one another in a manner that could have generated global destruction on an unimaginable scale. Thus, it is seemingly amazing that the Cold War did not spawn such international use of nuclear weapons and the attendant annihilation that would have ensued. In Weapons of Peace author Craig Blohm describes the seemingly paradoxical circumstance wherein the most destructive armaments ever conceived and constructed actually served as deterrents to world war. As Blohm notes the very fact that nuclear weapons were so universally destructive acted as a brake to their usage. Hence, the understanding that either side's use of these destructive weapons would have resulted in mutually assured destruction deterred such an eventuality. Herein, as the author of this well written chapter in "The Cold War" series indicates, lay both the greatest result and the gravest risk of that era. Craig Blohm's carefully written book handles this complicated subject in a professional and informative manner and is one that students of this age will enjoy. 2003, Lucent Books, Romaneck