Courting Danger:
The High-Stakes Handling of US Nuclear Materials
Gary L. Mulryan
For generations, the United States government has reassured the American public that the nation’s nuclear arsenal posed little threat beyond the environmental consequences of its production. Yet the history of the nuclear age tells a more complex story – one in which the pursuit of security was often accompanied by hidden risks, difficult decisions, and moments of extraordinary peril.
Courting Danger traces the history of America’s nuclear age through the people, decisions, and events that shaped it. Beginning with the Manhattan Project, the narrative follows the growth of the nation’s nuclear enterprise over more than eight decades, from the race to build the first atomic bomb to the vast Cold War arsenal and the sophisticated security systems that protect it today. Along the way, it explores scientific breakthroughs, geopolitical rivalries, technological innovation, and the remarkable scientists, soldiers, engineers, couriers, and public servants who worked largely out of public view.
Drawing on historical research and firsthand accounts, Courting Danger combines rigorous scholarship with fast-paced storytelling to reveal the triumphs, tragedies, close calls, and human drama behind one of the most secretive and consequential undertakings in American history. It is the story not only of nuclear weapons, but also of the people entrusted with creating them, transporting them, safeguarding them, and preventing catastrophes in an age when the stakes could not have been higher.