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There are a number of good books on the history of ballistic missiles. Edmund Beard, Richard Armacost and Harold Sapolski have all written classic books on the management of early ballistic missile programs. There are some more recent books that either re-cover this earlier ground or add to it. However, there are no real technical histories devoted to the development of any of the ballistic missiles the United States has built over the years. This book begins to fill that void.David Stumpf previously wrote a book on the Navy's Regulus cruise missile that is a pretty comprehensive history. He did a good job with that one. Now he has turned his attention to the Titan II and done another great job.Titan II is a detailed history of the development of the United States' second ICBM (technically, it could be considered the third, since it bears only limited resemblance to the Titan I that preceded it). This is a book focused on the technical development of the missile, the development and construction of its launch silos, its launch tests, its operational history, and its retirement from service in the 1980s. It is filled with illustrations, most of which have never been published before. And it is clear from his sources that he did not simply review previously published articles on the Titan II, but interviewed the people who worked on it and gathered information from private archives and previously classified materials.The book does not go into the development of the space launch version of the Titan. The history of the development of the Titan III and the Titan IV rockets still awaits writing. He does, however, include a chapter on the refurbishment of old Titan II ICBMs into launch vehicles during the 1980s. Stumpf includes an interesting discussion of the development of missile reentry vehicles. This is a subject that I personally believe could use a book in itself. I think it would be fascinating to trace the development of this technology.Stumpf also includes an extensive discussion of several accidents involving the Titan II. And he discusses how and why the missiles were ultimately removed from service.There are also useful appendices at the end of the book, listing the various flight tests (and their accuracy), the missiles produced, and other details.We can only hope that he turns his attention to other early Cold War missile programs. This is an impressive piece of work.