War and peace in the nuclear age

"This book covers a lot of ground -- from the stirrings of the 'new physics' early in the century to events of June 1988, notably the last meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, and Mr. Gorbachev's special conference of the Soviet Communist party some days later. In between came crises, confrontations, negotiations and even a few arguments, I have tried to relate much of that and to describe the historic effect of nuclear weapons on relations between adversaries, as well as the singular effects of these weapons on relations between allies"--Page xi.