British journalist Norman Moss presents a clear and engaging account of the origins and general acceptance of the hydrogen bomb in world affairs. Moss gives a brief history on the production of the H-bomb as well as chapters on physicist Edward Teller, the Bikini Island tests, protester Pat O'Connell, "On Thermonuclear War" author Herman Khan, Robert McNamara, etc. Focusing on the main actors on the nuclear stage (the United States and the Soviet Union), Moss also includes details on the nuclear ambitions of Great Britain, France, and China. The U.S. is often painted as the aggressor in nuclear production as the Soviet Union still regarded ground troops as the main force in future wars.

Although the topic of the book is highly complex, Moss writes in a journalist's style that is easy to understand even if the reader knows nothing about physics. Moss also examines the human side of the issue-offering a glimpse of the life of a British bomber pilot, the concerns of an otherwise law-abiding grandmother who has been arrested numerous times for anti-nuke demonstrations, and a look inside an American missile silo.

A professor recommended this book to my class. I sought it out and have read it twice. It is very eye-opening , especially the information on how devastating the nuclear forces of the Cold War nations were. A case study of the Radiation Subcommittee determined one Russian nuclear attack would kill 28% of the U.S. population. Of course, this book was written over 30 years ago, so imagine how dangerous it would become and still may be! As Moss states in his conclusion, from the moment we gained the knowledge to produce nukes, they remain a permanent aspect of human culture. The info in this book will never be obsolete as is evident in the latest rush to build shelters in this latest time of chemical warfare.

I was disappointed in this book. I was looking for help in writing a story set in England in 1860. This was not too much help. A language dictionary usually has an equivilant of the same word in the other language. I expected to look up an American word and find the British word. All I got was a definition of the American word without the British equivilent. I can look up definitions of Amereican words in most any dictionary I already have. He did somewhat better in converting British words to American. I think there is room for someone to write a British/ American dictionary like the French/English and Spanish/ English dictionaries I now own. Sorry, Mister Moss. Maybe I'll find the difference between pantalettes, drawers, bloomers, undies and knickers somewhere, but not in your book.

After 24 years in Britain, followed by 11 in the US, I suppose I don't really need this book any more. I bought it not that long after I moved to Texas, and it was a welcome companion--it was nice to read in print what I'd just found out the hard way in conversation, and even nicer to be forewarned.

Moss has included most, but not all, of the words that frequently baffle one side or the other. On the plus side, there are some wonderful anecdotes in here--such as one in the "Yankee" entry, about a Brit who mentioned to his Tennessee hosts that he'd seen a lot of Yankee money and enterprise down in Mexico, to be greeted by a cool silence and finally the resentful retort: "Well, I bet there's some rebel money and rebel enterprise down there too." If you don't understand what the problem was, you need this book.

On the other side of the ledger, however, the book is incomplete. Naturally it is missing some very recent slang, such as the very new British use of "pants" as a synonym for "naff" (which he *does* define); but it is also missing some words and phrases I'd have fully expected to find here: fortnight, counterpane, and "Bob's your uncle" on the British side; cobbler and punt on the American side, just as examples.

There are also some entries which, though sometimes entertaining, are not well attributed or are out of date. The use of "scrump" for pilfering fruit from fruit trees is one I never heard in the UK; it is almost certainly local to the West Country, where scrumpy (apple cider) is the local moonshine; similarly, "taproom" is a word I knew from literature but never ran into in real life. On the American side, there are occasional oddities that are perhaps regional: "locate" meaning to find a job doesn't square with what I've heard here in Texas, nor does "frog", for the crossing plate on a railway, seem like an entry that deserved its place.

Still, with these flaws, it's a fun reference book to have. Perhaps (and it's not really a criticism) it's really more entertaining than it is useful.

I love America. I love the technology. I am so thrilled of how easy can I get the best books ... . British American Language Dictionary was so informative and rich. Divided by common Language is the best of its kind. Get both of them and have fun.