| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 106.5

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 240 words from this article are provided below; about 589 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 106.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Comparative/World

Septimus H. Paul. Nuclear Rivals: Anglo-American Atomic Relations, 1941–1952. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. 2000. Pp. ix, 266. Cloth $42.50, paper $18.95.

Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman's discovery of nuclear fission in 1938 unlocked a source of unimaginable heat and power and also raised the remote possibility that this could be harnessed to produce an explosion of inconceivable destructiveness. In the spring of 1940, two refugee scientists at Birmingham University produced a paper outlining the theoretical basis for a fission weapon. Five years later, the destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bore terrible witness to the fact that science had turned theory into fact. The atomic age had begun. 1

Despite the fact that the wartime collaboration between the Allies succeeded in producing a bomb, the gestation and infancy of this deadly source of power were far from harmonious. It took the findings of the British Maud Committee—set up to verify the work of the Birmingham scientists—to galvanize both Britain and, soon after, the United States into establishing separate atomic energy programs. By the time the two countries agreed to pool their efforts in mid-1942, Britain, which had initially led the field and successfully resisted American requests to join forces, was clearly the junior in the huge Manhattan Project. One year after the close of the war, the United States Congress passed the McMahon Act, which abruptly ended Anglo-American atomic cooperation. . . .

There are about 589 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.