Table of Contents

List of Plates Foreword by Lawrence Freedman Preface PART I: SETTING THE AGENDA Stellar Forces The First Superbomb Project: The United States The Second Superbomb Project: The Soviet Union PART II: BRITAIN AND THE THERMONUCLEAR QUESTION What Must Britain Do? A General Instruction from the Government PART III: BRITAIN'S RESPONSE Aldermaston and the Weaponers The Megaton Mission Captain Cook's Coral Island Racing Against Time PART IV: THE PACIFIC TRIALS The First Trial: Grapple 'We Shall Have To Do It All Again': Grapple X Britain's Biggest Explosion: Grapple Y Mission Accomplished: Grapple Z PART V: A SPECIAL NUCLEAR RELATIONSHIP The Great Prize Some Questions and Answers Appendices Notes and References Select Bibliography Index

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About the Author

LORNA ARNOLD OBE is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Fellow of the Institute of Contemporary British History. She is author of A Very Special Relationship: British Weapon Trials in Australia (1987) and Windscale 1957: Anatomy of a Nuclear Accident.

Reviews

'Lorna Arnold...is particulary successful in making the scientific issues of the nuclear project accessible to non-technical readers such as students in history, international relations and politics and she provides a highly informative account of a very important phase in Britain's nuclear history.' - Dan Keohane, Keele University '...an excellent book that sheds needed light on the world's third thermonuclear power.' - Jack M. Holl, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 'Britain and the H-Bomb tells the tale of the men who developed Britain's thermonuclear device through the drama of the tests in the Pacific. It does so with clarity and skill.' - Stuart Croft, Nature 'Britain and the H-Bomb is a valuable contribution to the history of the arms race, and deserves a wide readership.' - Peter Gissing, University of Sydney