The world changed irrevocably after Hiroshima, in ways we are only now beginning to understand. Our perceptions of life have been dramatically altered. The polemics of various factions around the nuclear issue often serve only to obscure further the realities of life in the nuclear age.

The world is currently undergoing tumultuous political upheaval. Recent events have even been taken to indicate that the Cold War is almost over. But the nuclear threat, informed by a deeply rooted history of nuclear thinking, remains.

Malcolmson identifies changes in those realities and our perceptions, and misperceptions, of them. He considers humanity's new technologies and our efforts to manage and understand them, especially as they relate to war and peace. Placing all in a historical context, Malcolmson analyses the politics of the nuclear arms race in relation to the international political culture of the past forty years. From this analysis he creates historical depth for contemporary issues and a perspective from which we can decide how to deal with nuclear energy in the future.