At the request of the President of Harvard University, six Harvard scholars have joined forces to write a book that lays out the facts about nuclear weapons for all concerned citizens who want to think through the nuclear dilemma for themselves. Living with Nuclear Weapons is written by specialists for the general reader. It conveys crucial information clearly, concisely, and without technical jargon.

Living with Nuclear Weapons presents all sides of the nuclear debate while explaining what everyone needs to know to develop informed and reasoned opinions about the issues. Among the specifics are a history of nuclear weaponry; an examination of current nuclear arsenals; scenarios of how a nuclear war might begin; a discussion of what can be done to promote arms control and disarmament; a study of the hazards of nuclear proliferation; an analysis of various nuclear strategies; and an explanation of how public opinion can influence policy on the nuclear arms question.

Albert Carnesale is Academic Dean at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He served on the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (1970–1972) and as the head of the U.S. delegation to the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (1978–1980). Paul Doty was Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was involved in the Manhattan Project and was a member of the President’s Science Advisory Committee in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Stanley Hoffmann (1928–2015) was Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor at Harvard University. Samuel P. Huntington was Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs at Harvard University and the author of The Clash of Civilizations, The Soldier and the State, Political Order in Changing Societies, and American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony, among other books. Joseph S. Nye, Jr., is Dean of the Faculty and Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Scott D. Sagan is a Teaching Fellow in the History Department at Harvard University and served as Staff Director of the Project. Derek C. Bok is President Emeritus and Three Hundredth Anniversary University Professor, Harvard University.