Atomic America
DOWNLOAD
Download Atomic America PDF/ePub or read online books in Mobi eBooks. Click Download or Read Online button to get Atomic America book now. This website allows unlimited access to, at the time of writing, more than 1.5 million titles, including hundreds of thousands of titles in various foreign languages. If the content not found or just blank you must refresh this page
Atomic America
DOWNLOAD
Author : Todd Tucker
language : en
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date : 2009-03-03
Atomic America written by Todd Tucker and has been published by Simon and Schuster this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2009-03-03 with History categories.
On January 3, 1961, nuclear reactor SL-1 exploded in rural Idaho, spreading radioactive contamination over thousands of acres and killing three men: John Byrnes, Richard McKinley, and Richard Legg. The Army blamed "human error" and a sordid love triangle. Though it has been overshadowed by the accident at Three Mile Island, SL-1 is the only fatal nuclear reactor incident in American history, and it holds serious lessons for a nation poised to embrace nuclear energy once again. Historian Todd Tucker, who first heard the rumors about the Idaho Falls explosion as a trainee in the Navy's nuclear program, suspected there was more to the accident than the rumors suggested. Poring over hundreds of pages of primary sources and interviewing the surviving players led him to a tale of shocking negligence and subterfuge. The Army and its contractors had deliberately obscured the true causes of this terrible accident, the result of poor engineering as much as uncontrolled passions. A bigger story opened up before him about the frantic race for nuclear power among the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force -- a race that started almost the moment the nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS), where the meltdown occurred, had been a proving ground where engineers, generals, and admirals attempted to make real the Atomic Age dream of unlimited power. Some of their most ambitious plans bore fruit -- like that of the nation's unofficial nuclear patriarch, Admiral Rickover, whose "true submarine," the USS Nautilus, would forever change naval warfare. Others, like the Air Force's billion dollar quest for a nuclear-powered airplane, never came close. The Army's ultimate goal was to construct small, portable reactors to power the Arctic bases that functioned as sentinels against a Soviet sneak attack. At the height of its program, the Army actually constructed a nuclear powered city inside a glacier in Greenland. But with the meltdown in Idaho came the end of the Army's program and the beginning of the Navy's longstanding monopoly on military nuclear power. The dream of miniaturized, portable nuclear plants died with McKinley, Legg, and Byrnes. The demand for clean energy has revived the American nuclear power industry. Chronic instability in the Middle East and fears of global warming have united an unlikely coalition of conservative isolationists and fretful environmentalists, all of whom are fighting for a buildup of the emission-free power source that is already quietly responsible for nearly 20 percent of the American energy supply. More than a hundred nuclear plants generate electricity in the United States today. Thirty-two new reactors are planned. All are descendants of SL-1. With so many plants in operation, and so many more on the way, it is vitally important to examine the dangers of poor design, poor management, and the idea that a nuclear power plant can be inherently safe. Tucker sets the record straight in this fast-paced narrative history, advocating caution and accountability in harnessing this feared power source.
The American Atom
DOWNLOAD
Author : Philip L. Cantelon
language : en
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Release Date : 1991
The American Atom written by Philip L. Cantelon and has been published by University of Pennsylvania Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1991 with History categories.
For this edition (first in 1984), the editors have updated the collection of primary documents which tell the story of atomic energy in the US from the discovery of fission through the development of nuclear weapons, international proliferation, and attempts at control. The book also includes a new chapter, reflects on Chernoyl, Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Survival City
DOWNLOAD
Author : Tom Vanderbilt
language : en
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Release Date : 2010-04-15
Survival City written by Tom Vanderbilt and has been published by University of Chicago Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2010-04-15 with History categories.
On the road to Survival City, Tom Vanderbilt maps the visible and invisible legacies of the cold war, exhuming the blueprints for the apocalypse we once envisioned and chronicling a time when we all lived at ground zero. In this road trip among ruined missile silos, atomic storage bunkers, and secret test sites, a lost battleground emerges amid the architecture of the 1950s, accompanied by Walter Cotten’s stunning photographs. Survival City looks deep into the national soul, unearthing the dreams and fears that drove us during the latter half of the twentieth century. “A crucial and dazzling book, masterful, and for me at least, intoxicating.”—Dave Eggers “A genuinely engaging book, perhaps because [Vanderbilt] is skillful at conveying his own sense of engagement to the reader.”—Los Angeles Times “A retracing of Dr. Strangelove as ordinary life.”—Greil Marcus, Bookforum
Life Under A Cloud
DOWNLOAD
Author : Allan M. Winkler
language : en
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Release Date : 1999
Life Under A Cloud written by Allan M. Winkler and has been published by University of Illinois Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1999 with History categories.
Presents an account of the impact of the atomic bomb on American political and cultural life. This title delineates how fears of nuclear disaster have become a part of our culture. Tracing the debate over military and civilian uses of atomic power, it reveals the irony, anxiety, and official insanity of the atomic age.
Atomic Age America
DOWNLOAD
Author : Martin V. Melosi
language : en
Publisher: Routledge
Release Date : 2016-09-13
Atomic Age America written by Martin V. Melosi and has been published by Routledge this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2016-09-13 with History categories.
Atomic Age America looks at the broad influence of atomic energy¿focusing particularly on nuclear weapons and nuclear power¿on the lives of Americans within a world context. The text examines the social, political, diplomatic, environmental, and technical impacts of atomic energy on the 20th and 21st centuries, with a look back to the origins of atomic theory.
Killing Our Own
DOWNLOAD
Author : Harvey Wasserman
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 1982
Killing Our Own written by Harvey Wasserman and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1982 with Ionizing radiation categories.
Alert America
DOWNLOAD
Author : Michael Scheibach
language : en
Publisher: McFarland
Release Date : 2019-03-28
Alert America written by Michael Scheibach and has been published by McFarland this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2019-03-28 with History categories.
To address the threat of an atomic-armed Soviet Union during the early days of the Cold War, President Harry Truman approved the Alert America exhibit as the most effective way to convey the destructive power of the atomic bomb and to encourage participation in civil defense. Following its debut in the nation's capital in January 1952, Alert America, promoted as "The Show That May Save Your Life," traveled in three separate convoys to more than eighty cities considered most likely to be bombed, and garnered unprecedented support from elected and civic officials, the media, the military, private industry, and myriad organizations. This is the first book to examine the scope and impact of Alert America, which has been largely overlooked by historians. Also included are resource materials providing insights into the government's overriding objective of preparing men, women and children to survive an atomic war.
Dr Strangelove S America
DOWNLOAD
Author : Margot A. Henriksen
language : en
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Release Date : 2023-04-28
Dr Strangelove S America written by Margot A. Henriksen and has been published by Univ of California Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-04-28 with History categories.
Did America really learn to "stop worrying and love the bomb," as the title of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film, Dr. Strangelove, would have us believe? Does that darkly satirical comedy have anything in common with Martin Luther King Jr.'s impassioned "I Have a Dream" speech or with Elvis Presley's throbbing "I'm All Shook Up"? In Margot Henriksen's vivid depiction of the decades after World War II, all three are expressions of a cultural revolution directly related to the atomic bomb. Although many scientists and other Americans protested the pursuit of nuclear superiority after World War II ended, they were drowned out by Cold War rhetoric that encouraged a "culture of consensus." Nonetheless, Henriksen says, a "culture of dissent" arose, and she traces this rebellion through all forms of popular culture. At first, artists expressed their anger, anxiety, and despair in familiar terms that addressed nuclear reality only indirectly. But Henriksen focuses primarily on new modes of expression that emerged, discussing the disturbing themes of film noir (with extended attention to Alfred Hitchcock) and science fiction films, Beat poetry, rock 'n' roll, and Pop Art. Black humor became a primary weapon in the cultural revolution while literature, movies, and music gave free rein to every possible expression of the generation gap. Cultural upheavals from "flower power" to the civil rights movement accentuated the failure of old values. Filled with fascinating examples of cultural responses to the Atomic Age, Henriksen's book is a must-read for anyone interested in the United States at mid-twentieth century.
The Wretched Atom
DOWNLOAD
Author : Jacob Darwin Hamblin
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2021-06-03
The Wretched Atom written by Jacob Darwin Hamblin and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-06-03 with History categories.
A groundbreaking narrative of how the United States offered the promise of nuclear technology to the developing world and its gamble that other nations would use it for peaceful purposes. After the Second World War, the United States offered a new kind of atom that differed from the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This atom would cure diseases, produce new foods, make deserts bloom, and provide abundant energy for all. It was an atom destined for the formerly colonized, recently occupied, and mostly non-white parts of the world that were dubbed the "wretched of the earth" by Frantz Fanon. The "peaceful atom" had so much propaganda potential that President Dwight Eisenhower used it to distract the world from his plan to test even bigger thermonuclear weapons. His scientists said the peaceful atom would quicken the pulse of nature, speeding nations along the path of economic development and helping them to escape the clutches of disease, famine, and energy shortfalls. That promise became one of the most misunderstood political weapons of the twentieth century. It was adopted by every subsequent US president to exert leverage over other nations' weapons programs, to corner world markets of uranium and thorium, and to secure petroleum supplies. Other countries embraced it, building reactors and training experts. Atomic promises were embedded in Japan's postwar recovery, Ghana's pan-Africanism, Israel's quest for survival, Pakistan's brinksmanship with India, and Iran's pursuit of nuclear independence. As The Wretched Atom shows, promoting civilian atomic energy was an immense gamble, and it was never truly peaceful. American promises ended up exporting violence and peace in equal measure. While the United States promised peace and plenty, it planted the seeds of dependency and set in motion the creation of today's expanded nuclear club.
Nuclear Statecraft
DOWNLOAD
Author : Francis J. Gavin
language : en
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Release Date : 2012-10-16
Nuclear Statecraft written by Francis J. Gavin and has been published by Cornell University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012-10-16 with History categories.
We are at a critical juncture in world politics. Nuclear strategy and policy have risen to the top of the global policy agenda, and issues ranging from a nuclear Iran to the global zero movement are generating sharp debate. The historical origins of our contemporary nuclear world are deeply consequential for contemporary policy, but it is crucial that decisions are made on the basis of fact rather than myth and misapprehension. In Nuclear Statecraft, Francis J. Gavin challenges key elements of the widely accepted narrative about the history of the atomic age and the consequences of the nuclear revolution. On the basis of recently declassified documents, Gavin reassesses the strategy of flexible response, the influence of nuclear weapons during the Berlin Crisis, the origins of and motivations for U.S. nuclear nonproliferation policy, and how to assess the nuclear dangers we face today. In case after case, he finds that we know far less than we think we do about our nuclear history. Archival evidence makes it clear that decision makers were more concerned about underlying geopolitical questions than about the strategic dynamic between two nuclear superpowers. Gavin's rigorous historical work not only tells us what happened in the past but also offers a powerful tool to explain how nuclear weapons influence international relations. Nuclear Statecraft provides a solid foundation for future policymaking.