This book examines the alarming resurgence of nuclear threats over the past quarter-century, following decades of arms control progress between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russian Federation.

It traces the devastating legacy of nuclear weapons from their catastrophic debut in 1945, when atomic bombings claimed over 150,000 immediate lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and thousands more from radiation effects in subsequent years. Barletta provides crucial historical context for understanding today's precarious nuclear landscape, where proliferation concerns and modernization programs have reversed much of the post-Cold War progress. Through rigorous analysis and compelling narrative, readers gain insight into how and why the international community has retreated from earlier commitments to nuclear de-escalation.

By articulating the dangers of nuclear proliferation and the growth of existing nuclear arsenals, this volume encourages action from aspiring graduate and undergraduate scientists, engineers, and general readers to animate the public discourse aimed at stepping away from the precipice of destruction.

William A. Barletta is Adjunct Professor of Physics (ret.) at MIT, Editor-in-Chief of Physics Open, and a Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Bologna Institute in Italy. His current research interests are the history, technology and control of nuclear weapons and emerging planetary emergencies.