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For The Love of Bombs
The Trail of Nuclear Suffering
By Peder Anker
The truism that history is written by its winners reflects the literature about how the bomb came about, with apologetic books most often written by U.S. scholars. The physicist Robert Oppenheimer, the nuke’s ‘father’, is repeatedly centre stage, as in the case of the recent film about him. These are elitist stories that more often than not ignore the suffering and violence of the bomb to laypeople in general, and to marginalised groups in particular. Starting with the gruesome mining of uranium by First Nation people in northern Canada, and continuing with the racialist culture of uranium enrichment in the Atomic City of Oak Ridge, Peder Anker offers alternative perspectives. It’s a story of how the bikini swimwear came to fetishise the nuclear bombardment of the Bikini Atoll with its celebration of ‘sex bombs’ and (an)atomic ‘bombshells’. Our current global warming fears also harbour back to ordinary citizens wondering if atomic bombs would blow up the entire sky. If some of this was news to you, it might have to do with how the story of nuclear bombs has been told.
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About This Book
Did you know that the uranium used to bomb the citizens of Hiroshima was mined at a forbidden site known as ‘the money place’ by First Nation people in northern Canada? Or have you heard about the environmental damage and social upheavals at the Atomic City of Oak Ridge? And how about the bikini swimwear? Did you know that the gaze on a woman’s belly button was that of military men carrying out atomic bombardments of the Bikini Atoll while fetishising ‘sex bombs’ and (an)atomic ‘bombshells’? And how about the poor Pacific Islanders who got their atolls blown to pieces? Have you heard about the colonial history of violence and oppression of those whose only aspiration was to live in peace with their coconut islands? And everyone is talking about climate change these days. Did you know that the debate emerged as a reaction to the fear of ordinary citizens wondering if atomic bombs would blow up the entire sky?
If some of this was news to you, it might have to do with how the story of atomic bombs has been told. The truism that history is written by its winners is very much the case in the literature about how the bomb came about, with numerous apologetic books most often written by U.S. scholars. These are usually cast as stories of the tormented souls of scientists who made a ‘Faustian bargain’ with the military in pursuit of atomic knowledge. The physicist Robert Oppenheimer, the nuke’s ‘father’, is repeatedly centre stage, as in the case of the recent film about him. These are elitist stories that more often than not ignore the suffering and violence of the bomb to laypeople in general, and to marginalised groups in particular. This book offers alternative perspectives.
Reviews
Forget the mainstream narratives about atomic weapons and follow Peder Anker in his quest for a people’s history of the bomb. Drawing on a rich array of sources, Anker dismantles the toxic narrative that has normalized the violence not only of deploying but also of producing the bomb, while unearthing the voices of resistance against it. This is a handbook for narrative resistance in times of war and violence.” — Marco Armiero, ICREA Research Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona
“Blowing up the traditional history of the atomic bomb, Peder Anker eschews Oppenheimer-centered narratives for an alternative account of the bomb’s origins and its consequences. Beginning with uranium extraction by the Dene First Nation followed by the destruction of the small farming community of Wheat, Tennessee, on which stood the Manhattan Project’s Secret City, Anker concludes by tracing its explosive reach from bikini swimsuits and sexbombs to climate change, in an original exploration of mythmaking and destruction in a world marked by exploitation and sexploitation.” — Jimena Canales, Author of The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson and the Debate that Changed Our Understanding of Time
“In this powerful book on the caustic environmental destruction and immense human suffering behind the A-bomb, historian Peder Anker turns our attention away from the usual nuclear physics heroes of the Manhattan Project and opens our eyes to the hypocrisy of US military propaganda and the narrow-mindedness of mainstream historiography on the most dangerous weapon ever created. In these dark times, it is a sadly urgent read.” — Sverker Sörlin, Professor of Environmental History, KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory, Stockholm
“In beautiful, accessible, and powerful prose, Peder Anker’s For the Love of Bombs sheds a bright light on the darker history of the US military’s pursuit of nuclear knowledge. The result is less about Americans’ love affair with nuclear energy and more an honest and emotional “people’s history” of those most seriously affected by the inequitable development of our atomic arsenal.” —Neil M. Maher, Author of Apollo in the Age of Aquarius
Author Information
Peder Anker is a professor at New York University and the author of six books on the history of ecological design and environmentalism.
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Table of Contents
The Trail of Nuclear Suffering; Farewell Oppenheimer; An Atomic History from Below; 1 At the End of the World; 2 The War on Wheat; 3 The Sex Bomb; 4 Paradise Lost; 5 The Climate Bomb; Acknowledgments; Index
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