The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller, and the Superbomb (Stanford Nuclear Age Series)

By Herbert F. York

Book Overview

First published in 1976, The Advisors is an absorbing look at the technical, strategic, and human aspects of the great debate that led to the decision to build the first hydrogen bomb, Based on the author's own participation in Project Superbomb, on interviews with other participants, and on declassified documents, this book explains the complete background to this major acceleration of the nuclear arms race.

For this reissue, the author has written a new Preface and Epilogue. The reissue also includes a recently declassified essay by Hans A. Bethe discussing the history of the H-bomb project from his unique vantage point as Director of the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos. He has revised the essay specifically for inclusion in this book.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804717133
• ISBN13: 9780804717137
• Release Date: May 1989
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book on the H-bomb decision (and mistakes made)

Dr. York's fascinating history of the H-bomb decision stands the test of time well. It is a telling lesson of mistakes made in a U.S. decision pushed by overly conservative decisionmaking, much of it tied up with the decision to strip Oppenheimer of his security clearance. The best part of the book--which is especially useful for teaching--is his careful counterfactual history of what might have happened had we not deployed the H-bomb and instead tried to control it. He shows convincingly that boosted fission weapons would have been more than adequate to meet any possible Soviet threat--should arms control efforts have failed. Instead, they weren't even tried, and the arms race continued out of control until the late 1980s. York's book is worth reading by anyone interested in politics of the nuclear age.