The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear weaponry between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their allies during the Cold War. This significant volume outlines how dangerous this race really was, detailing its historical origins as well as the science behind nuclear technology, and stresses the consequences of a nuclear war, reflected in the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of World War II. Though the Soviet Union is no more, readers will find out how nuclear power is still being used, and misused, around the world.