PD Smith

A guide to understanding the bomb

28 January 2008 | Atomic Age, cold war, Doomsday Men | Post a comment

The Philadel­phia Inquir­er has pub­lished a very per­cep­tive review of Dooms­day Men by physi­cist and sci­ence writer Paul Halpern.

Here are a cou­ple of high­lights:

“Dooms­day Men offers a mar­velous resource for under­stand­ing the issues and per­son­al­i­ties under­ly­ing Kubrick­’s mas­ter­piece and oth­er cre­ative inter­pre­ta­tions of the Cold War. From pulp sci­ence-fic­tion sto­ries to Godzil­la’s the­atri­cal inva­sions, it is a ver­i­ta­ble lex­i­con of atom­ic-age cul­ture. Con­se­quent­ly, it is a long and meaty book, but fast-paced nonethe­less. […]

With the Cold War fad­ing into his­to­ry, Dooms­day Men offers a valu­able reminder of the peri­od’s fears and foibles. It pro­vides an out­stand­ing guide to a piv­otal era when human­i­ty first faced the ter­ri­fy­ing prospect of anni­hi­la­tion by its own hand.”

Read the whole review here.

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