Close Calls: When the Cold War Almost Went Nuclear
Most of the nuclear near-misses during the Cold War were kept under wraps, and they still make for unnerving reading in the twenty-first century.
Biobanking the Victims of Nuclear War
Nearly 2 million biological samples from people affected by radiation from World War II nuclear bombings are stored in facilities in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Annotated Oppenheimer
Celebrated and damned as the “father of the atomic bomb,” theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer lived a complicated scientific and political life.
How Strong of a Nuclear Bomb Could Humans Make?
The biggest nuclear blast in history came courtesy of Tsar Bomba. We could make something at least 100 times more powerful.
HUAC versus Women Strike for Peace
American leftists were hamstrung by the Cold War’s domestic clampdown on communism, but in the 1960s, Women Strike for Peace re-wrote the book of dissent.
Hiding The Radiation of the Atomic Bombs
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. came with censorship and obfuscation about the effects of the radiation on those who were exposed.
Bombs and the Bikini Atoll
The haute beachwear known as the bikini was named after a string of islands turned into a nuclear wasteland by atomic bomb testing.
The D-I-Y Fallout Shelter
In the 1950s and 1960s, families planning for the apocalypse often took a homespun approach.
U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Turkey, pt. 2
This is not the first time the presence of American nuclear weapons in Turkey has been part of a crisis.
Understanding Planet-Wide Danger
The way Americans metabolized the global threat of nuclear war has had lasting effects on how we think about our newest global threat: climate change.