U.S. Nuclear Weapons; The Secret History

Arlington, TX: Aerofax, Inc, 1988. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. Format is approximately 8.75 inches by 11.25 inches. 232 pages. Illustrations (some in color). Maps. Diagrams. Notes. Tabular Data. Index. inor DJ edge wear and tears. Most pages are in a two column format. Distributed by Orion Books, a Division of Crown Publishers. Includes Preface, Foreword, A Note About Sources. Acknowledgments. Weapon Physics. Postwar U.S. Fission Weapons Development. Thermonuclear Weapons Development, 1942-1982. Weapons Types: Development & Delivery Systems. Arming & Fuzing: Techniques & Equipment. Chuck Hansen (May 13, 1947 - March 26, 2003) was the compiler, over a period of 30 years, of the world's largest private collection of unclassified documents on how America developed atomic and thermonuclear weapons. Hansen's documents were obtained through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and since his death have been housed at the National Security Archive at George Washington University. In 1988, Hansen wrote the book U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History, which, along with great detail about the process of developing, testing and administering atomic weapons was critical of the U.S. Defense Department, the Atomic Energy Commission, and some other government agencies. In the book Hansen reported that the early years of nuclear testing were less successful than claimed; bombs failed, or yielded smaller or larger explosions than anticipated or announced, and attempts to develop a radioactivity-free bomb were unsuccessful. U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History is out of print when catalogued. "This encyclopedic work presents for the first time historical and technical data for every nuclear warhead built by the U.S. since 1945. The most comprehensive technical history ever written about the postwar development of American nuclear weapons, this book includes explanations of fission and fusion weapon physics; significant postwar technological advancements in atomic warheads; and commonly-used warhead arming and fuzing equipment and techniques." - from dust jacket. "Extensive footnotes in each chapter cite specific sources for many of the points discussed" - from Preface "Chuck's research was my single most important source for DARK SUN. No one else has assembled such an outstanding collection of declassified documents. No one else knows how to work the declassification system to update and upgrade such a collection. Chuck is a unique source and resource" -- Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. "There's a lot more there than I ever knew"-- Dr. Herbert York, ex-director of the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, CA.