On the sixth episode of American

History Too! we leave the tawdry goings-on of the Gilded Age far behind and

for this cheery Christmas special we examine the subject of Nuclear Fallout in

the context of the early Cold War (1945-1960). 

Malcolm, who specialises in this area, guides us through the

history of the nuclear bomb:  How was it

first conceived and why was it deployed?  How close were the Nazis to securing the

bomb?  What’s so special about a hydrogen

(or ‘super’) bomb?  Is it conceivable

that a bomb could be constructed that would destroy the entire world?  In what ways have governments chosen to

educate (or not) their citizenry about what would happen in the case of nuclear

war?  Duck and cover as Malcolm takes us

on this tour de force of nuclear

history. 

We hope all of our listeners have a great holiday season and

we’ll be back with the force of nature that was Teddy Roosevelt early next year.  As usual, we would love to hear feedback on

the podcasts as we are very receptive to making improvements for future episodes. 

Thanks again for listening this year, we really appreciate

it!

Cheers,

Mark & Malcolm

Reading List

-          Hennessey, Peter, The Secret State: Preparing for the Worst, 1945-2010, 2nd

edition (London: Penguin, 2010)

-          Hughes, Jeff, ‘The

Strath Report: Britain Confronts the H-Bomb, 1954–1955,’ History

and Technology: An International Journal, 19:3 (2003), 257-275

-         

Jones,

Matthew, After Hiroshima: The United

States, Race, and Nuclear Weapons in Asia, 1945-1965 (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2010)

-         

Winkler,

Allan M., Life Under A Cloud: American

Anxiety About the Atom (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1993)

-         

Shapiro, Jerome F., Atomic Bomb Cinema: The Apocalyptic Imagination on Film (London:

Routledge, 2002)

-         

http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/index.html