The Scientific Origins of Controlled Fusion Technology, by John Hendry, Annals of Science, vol. 44 (1987), pp. 143-168
An excellent summary of the ‘prehistory’ of fusion research and early work in the United Kingdom up to 1950.
Fusion Research in the UK 1945-1960, by J. Hendry and J. D. Lawson (AEA Technology, 1993)
A definitive history of fusion research’s ‘heroic age’ in the United Kingdom.
Project Sherwood: The U.S. Program in Controlled Fusion, by Amasa S. Bishop (Addison-Wesley, 1958)
The story of America’s early years, by someone who was there.
Fusion: Science, Politics, and the Invention of a New Energy Source, by Joan Lisa Bromberg (MIT Press, 1982)
The official history of the US programme from its beginnings to 1980.
Fusion: The Search for Endless Energy, by Robin Herman (Cambridge University Press, 1990)
A popular account of the international fusion effort up to the late 1980s.
The Science of JET, by John Wesson (JET Joint Undertaking, 2000)
A brief technical history of the Joint European Torus.
Nuclear Fusion: Half a Century of Magnetic Confinement Fusion Research, by C. M. Braams and P. E. Stott (Taylor & Francis, 2002)
A thorough history of magnetic fusion packed with technical details.
Lasers Across the Cherry Orchards, by Michael Forrest (Michael Forrest, 2011)
A personal memoir of the Culham scientists’ expedition to Moscow to take the temperature of the T-3 tokamak.
Inertial Confinement Nuclear Fusion: A Historical Approach by Its Pioneers, by Guillermo Velarde and Natividad Carpintero-Santamaria (eds) (Foxwell & Davies, 2007)
A collection of personal accounts of the development of inertial confinement fusion.
Search for the Ultimate Energy Source: A History of the U.S. Fusion Energy Program, by Stephen O. Dean (Springer, 2013)
A thorough account of the US effort by one of its main protagonists.