This insightful reference work explores all key issues related to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and efforts to curb their development, from the start of the U.S. atomic bomb project during World War II to the current debates over the test ban treaty, missile defenses, and nuclear weapons dismantlement.

The book also provides a useful overview of a host of issues related to international nonproliferation treaties and regimes, as well as grassroots efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. There are short histories of the bomb-building programs of countries that have openly tested nuclear weapons (the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, and Pakistan, descriptions of the still-covert Israeli nuclear program, and information on countries seeking nuclear weapons today (Iraq, Iran, and North Korea