David Holloway Nuclear Weapons review and information book with an international history of the atomic bomb. Yale University Press will publish the book on the history of nuclear weapons and the atomic bomb, written by David Holloway, Raymond A. Spruance Professor of International History Emeritus at Stanford University, on March 3, 2026. Here you can read information about the content of the book, the author and the publication.

David Holloway Nuclear Weapons reviews

Whenever a review of Nuclear Weapons, An International History, the book written by David Holloway appears in the media, we’ll highlight it on this page.

• “Holloway builds on his pioneering study of the Soviet nuclear program to present an international history of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. This book contributes not only to our understanding of history but also to how we think about the present. It is as timely as it is substantive and insightful.” (Serhii Plokhy, the author of The Nuclear Age)
• “Deeply knowledgeable and breathtaking in scope… In showing how international the development of nuclear weapons was from the very beginning, this brilliant book recasts our understanding of Cold War nuclear history. It is a major scholarly achievement.” (Nina Tannenwald, author of The Nuclear Taboo)

Nuclear Weapons

An International History

• Author: David Holloway (United States)
• Book type: history book
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• To be released: March 24, 2026
• Length: 720 pages
• Format: hardback / ebook
• Prize: $ 38.00
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Blurb of the David Holloway book on the history of nuclear weapons

A groundbreaking history of nuclear weapons across the world, from their invention to the end of the Cold War.

How should we deal with nuclear weapons? The discovery of nuclear fission fundamentally changed the world order. Its power was harnessed, nuclear bombs invented, and the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed. In recurring international crises and calls for arms control, the threat of nuclear war has hung over humanity ever since.

David Holloway traces how these weapons shaped the last century, from the US-Soviet arms race to the rivalry between India and Pakistan. Deterrence and intimidation, alliances and war plans, international treaties and organizations have all played their role. At the centre were political leaders—among them Truman, Kennedy, and Reagan, as well as Stalin, Khrushchev, and Gorbachev—who all had their fingers on the nuclear button.

This is a global history of these fearsome weapons and our attempts to deal with the consequences of their existence—a story at once fascinating and repellent, of a very dangerous period in our history.

David Holloway is Raymond A. Spruance Professor of International History Emeritus at Stanford University. He has written widely on the history of nuclear weapons and is the author of Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939–1956.

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