Description
Book SynopsisThis is the opening volume in a comprehensive history of the global movement against nuclear weapons. Ranging from the prophetic warning of H.G. Wells in 1913 to the H-Bomb controversy of the 1950s, it tells the story of the emergence of popular efforts to save humanity from nuclear destruction.
Trade Review"A perceptive account of the effort to control nuclear weapons in the years following World War II. It is the first of three volumes in an ambitious work that tells the story of the struggle to contain the atom more fully than ever before....The best description that exists of efforts to promote disarmament around the globe."—
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists"Wittner's work demonstrates truly prodigious research. Beyond providing a comprehensive overview of the topic, moreover, the book also provides considerable new information for the debate over the historical significance of the disarmament movement."—
American Historical Review"There is an impressive thoroughness, even-handedness, and global reach in Wittner's work."—
The International History Review"...Wittner's oustanding book employs massive research into previously secret governmental records and organizational files in an effort to show how concerned and determined citizens throughout the world have altered the course of history."—Journal of American History
Table of ContentsPart I. The Secret Struggle: 1. Critics and the international crisis, 1913-43; 2. Growing resistance, 1943-45; Part II. The Nonaligned Movement, 1945-51: 3. From the ashes: world peace activism and the movement in Japan; 4. America's nuclear nightmare; 5. A new sense of fear: Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; 6. The beginning or the end? France, Germany and Italy; 7. Confronting 'a still greater catastrophe': elsewhere in Western Europe; 8. Muted opposition: the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and the Third World; 9. The international dimension; Part III. The Communist-led Movement, 1945-51: 10. 'Against the warmongers': the development of the communist-led peace movement; 11. 'Comrades, turn east': the communist-led campaign in France, Great Britain and the United States; 12. 'We are not pacifists': the communist-led campaign in other non-communist nations; 13. 'Stalin is our peace': the communist-led campaign in communist nations; Part IV. Consequences: 14. The uneasy leader: the US government and the bomb; 15. In hot pursuit: British and Soviet nuclear policy; 16. Restive onlookers: the public policy response elsewhere; 17. Crisis and decline of the movement, 1950-53; Conclusion and epilogue: the new thinking and the old; Notes; Bibliography; Index.
