For forty years the Soviet-American nuclear arms race dominated world politics; yet the Soviet nuclear establishment was shrouded in secrecy. Now that the Cold War is over and the Soviet Union has collapsed; it is possible to answer questions that have intrigued policymakers and the public for years. How did the Soviet Union build its atomic and hydrogen bombs? What role did espionage play? How did the American atomic monopoly affect Stalin's foreign policy? What was the relationship between Soviet nuclear scientists and the country's political leaders? This spellbinding book answers these questions by tracing the history of Soviet nuclear policy from developments in physics in the 1920s to the testing of the hydrogen bomb and the emergence of nuclear deterrence in the mid-1950s.In engrossing detail; David Holloway tells 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 first 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 vast network of institutes and factories; and a huge stockpile of unwanted weapons.
#521506 in Books imusti 1978-09-10Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .72 x 6.10l; 1.01 #File Name: 0300022913273 pagesYale University Press
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy VICTOR DIAZok0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Entering the 4000-year old minds is not easy; this is one noble attemt at itBy Emre SevincUnlike Kramer's "The Sumerians: Their History; Culture; and Character"; this book is a slow burner and a more difficult read; demanding more patience at least in the first half of the book. No matter how fascinating the history of ancient Sumer is; and no matter how much Jacobsen tried to compose this book for the non-specialist; we're still faced with a demanding text dedicated to only a subtopic of Sumer from one of the top-notch scholars in the field.After the warning above; I have to say that I found the last few chapters much more motivating and exciting. Starting from the "Rise of Personal Religion"; continuing with "Enûma Elish"; and reaching its peak with the most famous Gilgamesh epic; Jacobsen's analysis is a tour de force of connecting today's understanding with the world view of 4000 years ago; as well as their connections to other cultures such as ancient Greek literature; Judaism; and Christianity.It is not easy to take such ancient material; values and ideas barely visible from the traces on clay tablets; and bring them to life in such a lively manner; providing the reader with enough context to support the mind opening analyses. The author succeeded in this; and I can recommend this book after Kramer's book; if only for its second part.105 of 105 people found the following review helpful. Splendor in the DarkBy Arch LlewellynJacobsen is a giant in his field; but as an introduction to the subject "Treasures of Darkness" can be heavy going. Most helpful to me was the way that he tackles the myths chronologically; starting the book with the Dumuzi cults recored in the earliest Sumerian sources and ending with the stories of Marduk and Gilgamesh from later records. In between he covers topics from the rise of kingship to the growth of personal religion in a way that makes the beliefs come alive as an evolving response to the world rather than an inert collection of tablets.Jacobsen has a tendency to present speculation as fact--you wouldn't guess from reading this alone that many of his points are disputed--and the translations are a little stilted; at least to my ears. But his book goes a long way to turning the fragmentary evidence into a coherent philosophy of nature; humanity and the gods. Mesopotamian religion is often described as pessimistic; Jacobsen restores some of the awe; love and splendor that might have made it a convincing world view for thousands of people we'll never otherwise know.
