I'm super interested with the geopolitical history of the Cold War. Any suggestions specifically regarding the development/history of nuclear power amongst not only the U.S. & the USSR, but of all nuclear nations during the 20th century.
So ya, just wondering if anyone's got a suggestion.
You may be interested in some items from our books list, on the sidebar. Here's the Cold War section:
Eric Schlosser's Command and Control is my favorite all-around Cold War nuke book to recommend to people at the moment. He covers a lot of ground in it, although it is primarily about the American case. What I appreciate a lot is that he looks at delivery systems (e.g. rockets, planes), broader historical forces (beyond the physics, but including it), engineering considerations (a lot of accounts as physics-centric), and the broader organizational systems that are required to make all of these things work (and sometimes not work).
At the moment I don't think there is a great single volume on all nuclear weapons and power across all nations in the 20th century. David Holloway (author of Stalin and the Bomb) is apparently writing such a history and we are all waiting for it.
There are many volumes on individual country's nuclear programs. The best history of proliferation as a whole is probably Jeffrey Richelson's Spying on the Bomb, as even though it is primarily about US intelligence regarding foreign programs, it does a great job in canvassing the histories of many different nations' programs (successful and not) from World War II through the present day.