The 543 page book is edited by Guillermo Velarde, and Natividad Carpintero Santamaria. The following description is provided by the publisher.

This book describes the history of the research on inertial confinement nuclear fusion over the past 50 years. It is written by the leading scientists in this field and authentic protagonists of this period which started during the Cold War as classified research in France, former USSR, United Kingdom and USA and as open research in Japan, Germany, Italy, Israel and Spain. The idea of publishing this book began its emergence years ago when Nobel Laureate Nicloai G. Basov, together with Professor Guillermo Velarde, decided to compile the history of inertial confinement fusion, inviting the participation of its pioneers. Both Basov and Velarde believed that only the pioneers involved in the research itself could relate to this in a realistic and truthful manner.

Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) is an interdisciplinary research subject, its main goal is aimed to solve the energy problem of mankind for the generations to come. This noble idea started almost simultaneously with the development of thermonuclear weapons (known to the public as the hydrogen bomb). This apparently close affiliation hindered the progress in the energy research. The ICF research and technology for solving the problem of energy production turned out to be so difficult and complex that only a worldwide collaboration might advance the research and achieve a successful solution.

The book presents the direct testimony and open account of the facts, events, dates and contrasting research which culminated in 1988 with the Madrid Manifesto suggested by Erik Storm and Guillermo Velarde and was signed by more than one hundred scientists around the world. They claimed the international and open collaboration and paved the way in 1990 in the United States for the declassification of more than 90% of the work related to inertial confinement nuclear fusion research.

A total of 23 chapters are presented with the description of the work carried out in the main laboratories around the world. From West to East: In the United States: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, KMS (Michigan), Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Laboratory for Laser Energetics at Rochester University and Naval Research Laboratory. In Europe: Institute of Nuclear Fusion (Spain), Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Central Laser Facility (United Kingdom), Gessellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung, GSI (Germany), Max Planck Institute fur Quantenoptik (Germany) Laboratorio Gas Ionizzati, ENEA, (Italy). In Israel: Soreq Nuclear Research Centre. In the former Soviet Union: Kurchatov and Troisk Institutes, Prokhorov General Physics Institute, Lebedev Physical Institute, All Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics VNIEF (Arzamas 16), All Russian Scientific Research Institute of Technical Physics VNITF (Chelyabinsk). From Japan: Insitute of Laser Engineering at Osaka University. From Australia: University of New South Wales. Unfortunately the contributions of Commisariat d'Energie Atomique and the Ecole Politechnique from France were not received.

The chapters are written with emphasis as to why inertial confinement nuclear fusion was chosen and include a detailed overview of its beginnings and the first papers written by authors; their photographs and their teams, descriptions of unknown and significant episodes, as well as exciting technical descriptions and results. However the authors have focused their account on their own personal perspective. The result is an independent, personal and realistic account of historical data during the past 50 years.

Level of readership:
Scientists, engineers, graduate and undergraduate students of science, history of science, philosophy of science and the intelligent reader at large.