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Culture and Politics in the Cold War and Beyond
The Dragon's Tail: Americans Face the Atomic Age
When President Harry Truman introduced the atomic bomb to the world in 1945, he described it as a God-given harnessing of "the basic power of the universe." Six days later a New York Times editorial framed the dilemma of the new Atomic Age for its "Here the long pilgrimage of man on Earth turns towards darkness or towards light." American nuclear scientists, aware of the dangers their work involved, referred to one of their most critical experiments as "tickling the dragon's tail."
Even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most Americans may not have been sure what an atomic bomb was or how it worked. But they did sense that it had fundamentally changed the future of the human race. In this book, Robert Jacobs analyzes the early impact of nuclear weapons on American culture and society. He does so by examining a broad range of stories, or "nuclear narratives," that sought to come to grips with the implications of the bomb's unprecedented and almost unimaginable power.
Beginning with what he calls the "primary nuclear narrative," which depicted atomic power as a critical agent of social change that would either destroy the world or transform it for the better, Jacobs explores a variety of common themes and images related to the destructive power of the bomb, the effects of radiation, and ways of surviving nuclear war. He looks at civil defense pamphlets, magazines, novels, and films to recover the stories the U.S. government told its citizens and soldiers as well as those presented in popular culture.
According to Jacobs, this early period of Cold War nuclear culture―from 1945 to the banning of above-ground testing in 1963―was distinctive for two not only did atmospheric testing make Americans keenly aware of the presence of nuclear weapons in their lives, but radioactive fallout from the tests also made these weapons a serious threat to public health, separate from yet directly linked to the danger of nuclear war.
Even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most Americans may not have been sure what an atomic bomb was or how it worked. But they did sense that it had fundamentally changed the future of the human race. In this book, Robert Jacobs analyzes the early impact of nuclear weapons on American culture and society. He does so by examining a broad range of stories, or "nuclear narratives," that sought to come to grips with the implications of the bomb's unprecedented and almost unimaginable power.
Beginning with what he calls the "primary nuclear narrative," which depicted atomic power as a critical agent of social change that would either destroy the world or transform it for the better, Jacobs explores a variety of common themes and images related to the destructive power of the bomb, the effects of radiation, and ways of surviving nuclear war. He looks at civil defense pamphlets, magazines, novels, and films to recover the stories the U.S. government told its citizens and soldiers as well as those presented in popular culture.
According to Jacobs, this early period of Cold War nuclear culture―from 1945 to the banning of above-ground testing in 1963―was distinctive for two not only did atmospheric testing make Americans keenly aware of the presence of nuclear weapons in their lives, but radioactive fallout from the tests also made these weapons a serious threat to public health, separate from yet directly linked to the danger of nuclear war.
168 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 3, 2013
This was a really interesting book. I especially liked the chapters on popular images of nuclear threats and how that was expressed in movies. It made me think of disaster movies today and understand the origins of some of our post-apocalyptic tropes.
The government propaganda about nuclear safety and preparedness were also very interesting.
The title pretty much sums it up - if you're interested in these subjects, I'd highly recommend this book.
The government propaganda about nuclear safety and preparedness were also very interesting.
The title pretty much sums it up - if you're interested in these subjects, I'd highly recommend this book.
August 27, 2023
Wanted it to be longer. It's 121 pages, with a good number of illustrations, and a topic that could profitably have been extended into the 6os rather than hypothesized about. That said, this adds a lot of nuance to what often tend to be much more generalized depictions of atomic anxiety. Jacobs points out how much the early range of responses, both the panicked ones and the false reassurances, arose in the period when atmospheric testing was going on, thrusting the mushroom cloud into everyone's faces and forcing some sort of reckoning, whether that was through strenuously untrustworthy government publications, many of which depict animals responding with complete nonchalance to an explosion that's probably going to burn them alive. (So, you know, don't panic, earthlings.) The section on "atomic familiars" is the strongest, pointing out how often animals were used to show us not to worry, or to fear the normal turned monstrous (Them!), or to fear the unnatural and literally monstrous (Godzilla). There's also good material on how terms like "fallout" came to prominence, and what that meant for awareness of the actual dangers that existed, and on nuclear kid-cult, with a funny/horrific reading of the notorious "Duck and Cover" video (sure, that newspaper on your head will absolutely shield you from fire and radiation and crumbling buildings), which he locates next to a much bleaker and scarier one. (Oh, and a too-brief discussion of shelter ethics, which led to some fierce debates about how badly, exactly, we were all planning to behave when the bombs dropped.) So really, my major complaint is that I wanted more, particularly in the end, where his suggestion that Cold-War kids made the 60s happen because they saw through the magical thinking of their parents is compelling, but not really supported aside from a quotation from the Port Huron Statement. Just in case you thought early atomic culture couldn't be rendered any scarier and more dishonest...it can!
June 9, 2020
Very eye opening to America during the initial years of atomic weapons. I enjoyed learning about how nuclear weaponry affected culture and the mindsets of Americans.
May 2, 2012
Compelling, smart and clear. This book's made me a better citizen of the world.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews