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Disarming DoomsdayBy Becky Alexis-Martin
Since the first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, the history of nuclear warfare has been tangled with the spaces and places of scientific research and weapons testing, armament and disarmament, pacifism and proliferation. Nuclear geography gives us the tools to understand these events, and the extraordinary human cost of nuclear weapons.
Disarming Doomsday explores the secret history of nuclear weapons by studying the places they build and tear apart, from Los Alamos to Hiroshima. It looks at the legacy of nuclear imperialism from weapons testing on Christmas Island and across the South Pacific, as well as the lasting harm this has caused to indigenous communities and the soldiers that conducted the tests. For the first time, these complex geographies are tied together. Disarming Doomsday takes us forward, describing how geographers and geotechnology continue to shape nuclear war, and, perhaps, help to prevent it. Winner of the 2020 LHM Ling Outstanding First Book Prize |
'An informed and insightful account of contemporary nuclear issues which proposes a geographically-centred analysis of the causes and consequences of nuclear warfare’ ‘A true gem – an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of global communities still deeply impacted by atomic technologies. Wonderful for teaching or developing a grounded understanding’ ‘What’s louder than an atom bomb? The deafening silence that surrounds the apathy our contemporary culture has for the prospect of nuclear annihilation. Disarming Doomsday awakens our sensibilities to the symbolic and actual violence of nuclear war’ |