The American atom
Subtitle: a documentary history of nuclear policies from the discovery of fission to the present
By: Philip L. Cantelon, Richard G. Hewlett, and Robert C. Williams, editors.
Contributors: Cantelon, Philip L. 1940-; Hewlett, Richard G.; Williams, Robert Chadwell, 1938-
Edition: 2nd ed.
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 1991
Place of publication: Philadelphia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 369
Subjects: Nuclear weapons -- United States -- History -- Sources.; Nuclear energy -- United States -- History -- Sources.; Nuclear nonproliferation -- History -- Sources.; Deterrence (Strategy) -- History -- 20th century -- Sources.; United States -- Military policy.
Description: Debate over nuclear policy, whether about nuclear weapons or nuclear energy, most often focuses on issues of the present or the future. The documents in this classic collection remind us, however, that the issues involved have a past. We follow the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer thorough his letters, observations of those close to the Manhattan Project and testimony to the Atomic Energy Commission. President Dwight Eisenhower's 1953 'Atoms for Peace' speech demonstrates how far back calls for nuclear sanity go, and the listing of nuclear-weapons accidents shows how dangerous it may be to ignore those calls.
Notes: Includes index.