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

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Joseph M. Siracusa appears to be of American extraction but lives and works in Australia as a Professor of International Studies at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. The evidence of his origins can be found in the opening passage of his book when he describes his own recollection of the feeble practices instituted by the US Government in the 1950s to counter the threat of nuclear blasts against schoolchildren. The truth is, as he says, "America's schoolchildren would never have known what hit them".

The book is part of Oxford University Press's marvellous series of Very Short Introductions and while I had initial reservations about the historical elements of the book, Siracusa eventually won me over. The science of nuclear weapons is not well understood by the vast majority of people and Siracusa does attempt to explain it in layperson's terms. Having read Richard Rhodes' seminal work, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, I was reasonably well aware of the mechanics of the system but also very cognizant of the historical aspects, which are glossed over a bit too carelessly in this one, even for such a short book.

Once the basics are out of the way, the post WWII global scene is dealt with and Siracusa moves quite well between the various policies adopted by countries in a changing world where the balance of power shifted quite rapidly from US monopoly to a policy of containment as the Soviet Union developed their own weapons. Various developments are well discussed, as the development of the hydrogen bomb and missile technology evolved into Mutual Assured Destruction: MAD.

His explanations of the Reagan era Strategic Defense Initiative leads well into his perspectives on the end of the Cold War era and where it left us. There is an interesting discussion towards the end on deterrence policy and the role of missile defences in shaping policy. With the accession of G.W.Bush to the US Presidency, many SDI programs were re-invigorated and Siracusa explains the philosophical problems with recruiting friendly nations to support the program. He finishes with a short analysis of the possibilities of a terrorist bomb and how such a problem might occur.

This book did not win me over at first and it took a bit of effort to get into it. However the author kept the pace going quite well and with ample information available to him, it would have been something of a challenge to sift through it all. The book shows some signs of being put together in something of a hurry: Los Alamos is in New Mexico, not Mexico (p.17) and the only Rumsfeld I know of is Donald, not David (p.100).

The best part of the book for me would be the objectivity of the analysis, particularly when it came to comparing the various policies of the superpowers. That included some coverage of US decisions, previously unknown to me, which ultimately proved either futile or questionable. Not quite from the top drawer but definitely worth a look.

This book offers a lively introduction to the history and politics of nuclear weapons. I find the review of effectiveness of non-proliferation efforts in recent years stimulating. For example, efforts to roll back the India-Pakistan nuclear arms race have been unsuccessful. However, within months of shutting down the international trafficking network of atomic technology and materials setup by Pakistani atomic scientist Dr. A. Q Khan in year 2004, Libya renounced its nuclear programme. By the way, brief account of the science of nuclear weapons and technology of "Star War" defense system are particularly interesting.

Joseph M. Siracusa's Nuclear Weapons: A Very Short Introduction is an invaluable addition to Oxford's Very Short Introduction series. Whatever one's background, this volume provides a concise and highly readable introduction to nuclear weapons. It examines all aspects of these terrible weapons, from the science behind their construction, to the politics they provoke, to the fears surrounding their proliferation.

In the minds of many climate change has eclipsed nuclear weapons as the paramount threat to the planet. Siracusa convincingly argues, however, that in this age of global terrorism we cannot afford to ignore the threat posed by nuclear weapons, which remain the gravest threat to humanity in the 21st century.

For those of us who have no background in nuclear physics, nor time to master the enormous body of literature on issues such as nuclear deterrence and proliferation, this comprehensive and accessible introduction will prove absolutely invaluable to understanding the nature, history and terrible significance of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons are the most powerful and destructive weapons ever created. The combined power of all nuclear weapons currently in existence has the potential to destroy the World many times over. That fact has permanently changed the perception of warfare and created a whole new set of military and diplomatic concerns. This very short introduction explores these issues in detail, or at least with as much of a detail as the format allows. The book starts with a very brief explanation of how the nuclear energy works, and the realization in the late 1930s that it could be used for weapons. It follows with a condensed story of the Manhattan Project and the first nuclear explosions. The end of World War II, as the book argues, has only been a beginning of the new power relations based on the new reality that came with the gradual proliferation of the nuclear weapons around the world. The bulk of the book deals with the diplomatic and strategic policies that have marked the balance of powers during the Cold War. Even though the number of countries that acquired nuclear weapons never went beyond a single digit, there is a constant threat that many more regimes around the world would be all too willing to join the nuclear club. This had become an especially intractable problem upon the end of the Cold War. Instead of gradual disarmament, all of the nuclear powers have decided to cling to their arsenals. Even though deterrence might have been a major factor in the establishment and maintenance of peace throughout the twentieth century, the raise of non-state actors and their increasing predilection for the use of all sorts of weapons of mass destruction poses new and much more challenging threats for the world peace. All of these considerations are explored in this book, presented at a very accessible and relevant level.

Even if one has a good background in physics and technology the subject of nuclear weapons awakens a strong sense of foreboding. They have only been used twice in history: in the terrorist attacks perpetrated against Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. Hopefully they will never be used again in any capacity, but that seems doubtful considering the zeal with which terrorist groups and countries throughout the world attempt to acquire them. Having these weapons seems to instill national pride in the countries that do, or maybe even a strange sense of being invulnerable. It is difficult to assess whether the possession of these weapons by the United States and the Soviet Union averted conflict between these two nations, but there is no disputing that many ideological groups asserted that this was the case.

This assertion was the doctrine of `deterrence', and it and many other interesting topics are discussed in this highly informative book. The author has given the reader a general overview of the physics behind nuclear weapons, how they were invented, the use of them against Japan and the reactions of the world public on this use, and the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union and the aftermath thereof. There is enough material in this book to satisfy the needs of those readers who are pressed for time but need to gain an understanding of the powerful role that nuclear weapons have played on the world state in the last six decades. It would be an excellent book for young readers, particularly those born at the time that the "Cold War" was ending and need insight into the moods and rationalizations of policy makers in the post World War II era.

It is extremely doubtful that nuclear weapons will go away anytime soon, but it is also true that the new technologies of the twenty-first century may make them appear benign by comparison. All technology throughout history has found its way into extremely dangerous weaponry, nuclear weapons being of course the most dangerous to this date. But twenty-first century technology, already dwarfing the imagination and proving to be way beyond the predictions, may result in weaponry that will make warfare unthinkable. But as this book reminds us, this has been said before...