Confronting the bomb : a short history of the world nuclear disarmament movement / Lawrence S. Wittner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wittner, Lawrence S.

Series:

Stanford nuclear age series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Antinuclear movement--History.

Antinuclear movement.

Nuclear disarmament--History.

Nuclear disarmament.

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 254 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2009.

Summary:

Confronting the Bomb tells the dramatic, inspiring story of how citizen activism helped curb the nuclear arms race and prevent nuclear war. This abbreviated version of Lawrence Wittner's award-winning trilogy, The Struggle Against the Bomb, shows how a worldwide, grassroots campaign-the largest social movement of modern times-challenged the nuclear priorities of the great powers and, ultimately, thwarted their nuclear ambitions. Based on massive research in the files of peace and disarmament organizations and in formerly top secret government records, extensive interviews with antinuclear activists and government officials, and memoirs and other published materials. Confronting the Bomb opens a unique window on one of the most important issues of the modern era: survival in the nuclear age. Along the way, it provides fascinating glimpses of the interaction of key nuclear disarmament activists and policymakers, including Albert Einstein, Harry Truman, Albert Schweitzer, Norman Cousins, Nikita Khrushchev, Bertrand Russell, Andrei Sakharov, Linus Pauling, Dwight Eisenhower, Harold Macmillan, John F. Kennedy, Randy Forsberg, Mikhail Gorbachev, Helen Caldicott, E. P. Thompson, and Ronald Reagan. Overall, however, it is a story of popular mobilization and its effectiveness.

Contents:

The secret struggle

The rise of popular protest, 1945-1953

Government response, 1945-1953

Movement renaissance, 1954-1958

Victories and retreats, 1958-1970

A third wave, 1971-1980

Peace begins to break out, 1981-1985

Disarmament triumphant, 1985-1992

Waning movement, reviving arms race, 1993-present

Conclusion: Reflections on the past and the future.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9780804756310

0804756317

9780804756327

0804756325

OCLC:

297529991