CONTENTS

LIST OF MAPS

PREFACE

ONE: A TERRIFYING PROSPECT

Nazi Germany

TWO: LIGHTNING STRIKES

The Soviet Union 1945–1953

THREE: THE VIEW FROM ABOVE

The Soviet Union 1954–1961

FOUR: MAO’s EXPLOSIVE THOUGHTS

The People’s Republic of China through 1968

FIVE: AN ELATED GENERAL, A SMILING BUDDHA

France and India through 1974

SIX: “PARIAHS”

Israel, South Africa, and Taiwan through the 1970s

SEVEN: THE DOUBLE FLASH

The Vela Incident: September 1979

EIGHT: ROGUES

Iraq, North Korea, Libya, and Pakistan through 1991

NINE: “PARIAHS” REVISITED

Israel, South Africa, and Taiwan in the 1980s and early 1990s

TEN: BIG BANGS

French and Chinese testing; suspected Russian testing in the 1990s

ELEVEN: POKHRAN SURPRISE

Indian and Pakistani tests in May 1998

TWELVE: INSPECTORS AND SPIES

Iraq from the end of the Gulf War through December 1998

THIRTEEN: FLAWED INTELLIGENCE

Iraq, 1999–2004

FOURTEEN: TROUBLE WAITING TO HAPPEN

Iran and North Korea, from the 1990s to 2005

EPILOGUE

Iran and North Korea, 2006–2007

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

NOTES

INDEX