Nuclear War part 1: The Unthinkable

Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts you thought you knew. 

This time: the ‘genocide machine’ – nuclear war. With Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the father of the atomic bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer on its way and anxieties about Putin’s nuclear arsenal in the air, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey take us through how the human race learned to live with the first weapon that could potentially spell global annihilation.

From the invention of the atomic bomb in a novel by HG Wells to the triumph of the Manhattan Project and the horror of Hiroshima, a modern Pandora’s Box opens. Einstein calls his role in the story his “one great mistake”, Oppenheimer says he has blood on his hands, and an anxious world wonders if it will be blown up tomorrow.

This one has the lot: fear, guilt, paranoia and a glimpse of the end of the world.

Listen to Part 2 right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod 

“It wasn’t just a weapon. It’s an angry god. It’s Godzilla.” – Dorian Lynskey

“The peoples of this world must unite or they will perish… The atomic bomb has spelled [these words] out for all to understand.” – J Robert Oppenheimer   

“There should be a statue of Vasili Arkhipov in every town in the world. His refusal to fire stopped a nuclear war.” – Ian Dunt

Reading List: 

Luis Alvarez – Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist 

Martin Amis – Einstein’s Monsters 

Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer 

David C. Cassidy – J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century 

Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi – The Worlds of Herman Kahn 

Herman Kahn – On Thermonuclear War 

William Lanouette – Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard 

William L. Laurence – Dawn Over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb 

Robert Jay Lifton and Richard Falk - Indefensible Weapons 

Ronald Reagan – An American Life 

Jonathan Schell – The Fate of the Earth 

P.D. Smith – Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon 

H.G. Wells – The World Set Free 

The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, by Lawrence Freedman and Jeffrey Michaels

The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski

Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production.

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