The Origins of U.S. Nuclear Strategy, 1945-1953 (1st ed. 1993)

The United States took almost a decade after Hiroshima and Nagasaki to develop a coherent strategy of nuclear deterrence.

This comprehensive study by two careful and well-informed historians provides the best explanation we have of why this process took so long; it also suggests the inherent difficulties of relying on nuclear weapons to provide security in the first place.

Required reading for anyone interested in the early history of the nuclear era.