Our thinking is inhabited by images-images of sometimes curious and overwhelming power. The mushroom cloud, weird rays that can transform the flesh, the twilight world following a nuclear war, the white city of the future, the brilliant but mad scientist who plots to destroy the world-all these images and more relate to nuclear energy, but that is not their only common bond. Decades before the first atom bomb exploded, a web of symbols with surprising linkages was fully formed in the public mind. The strange kinship of ...
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Our thinking is inhabited by images-images of sometimes curious and overwhelming power. The mushroom cloud, weird rays that can transform the flesh, the twilight world following a nuclear war, the white city of the future, the brilliant but mad scientist who plots to destroy the world-all these images and more relate to nuclear energy, but that is not their only common bond. Decades before the first atom bomb exploded, a web of symbols with surprising linkages was fully formed in the public mind. The strange kinship of these symbols can be traced back, not only to medieval symbolism, but still deeper into experiences common to all of us. This is a disturbing book: it shows that much of what we believe about nuclear energy is not based on facts, but on a complex tangle of imagery suffused with emotions and rooted in the distant past. Nuclear Fear is the first work to explore all the symbolism attached to nuclear bombs, and to civilian nuclear energy as well, employing the powerful tools of history as well as findings from psychology, sociology, and even anthropology. The story runs from the turn of the century to the present day, following the scientists and journalists, the filmmakers and novelists, the officials and politicians of many nations who shaped the way people think about nuclear devices. The author, a historian who also holds a Ph.D. in physics, has been able to separate genuine scientific knowledge about nuclear energy and radiation from the luxuriant mythology that obscures them. In revealing the history of nuclear imagery, Weart conveys the hopeful message that once we understand how this imagery has secretly influenced history and our own thinking, we can moveon to a clearer view of the choices that confront our civilization.
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Seller's Description:
Good. 535, sources and methodology, notes, index, rear flyleaf creased, some soiling to fore-edge, DJ spine somewhat scuffed. Ink name and address inside front flyleaf.
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Seller's Description:
Some page-edge soil. Minor rubbing. VG. 24x16cm, (10). 535 pp, In a torn dustwrapper. Contents: Years of Fantasy, 1902-1938: Radioactive Hopes; Radiactive Fears; Radium: Elixir or Poison? The Secret, the Master and the Monster; Confronting Reality, 1939-1952: Where Earth & Heaven Meet; The News from Hiroshima; National Defenses; New Hopes & Horrors, 1953-1963: Atoms for Peace; Good & Bad Atoms; The New Blasphemy; Death Dust; The Imagination of Survival; The Politics of Survival; Suspect Technology, 1958-1986: Fail/ Safe; Reactor Poison & Promises; The Debate Explodes; Energy Choices; Civilization or Liberation? The War Fear Revival: An Unfinished Chapter; The Search for Renewal: The Modern Arcanum; Artistic Transmutations; Conclusion.
