HISTORY / Military / Nuclear Warfare

In 1922, the teenage son of a Jewish immigrant ventured from Manhattan to New Mexico for his health. It was the first of many trips to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a western retreat where J. Robert Oppenheimer would eventually hold pathbreaking discussions with world-renowned scientists about atomic physics. Oppenheimer came to feel at home in the American West, and while extensive studies have been made of the man, this is the first book to explicitly link him with the region. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Cold War, and the Atomic West explores how the West influenced Oppenheimer as a scientist and as a person—and the role he played in influencing it.

This is the first book to deal with the sociological and demographic impact of widespread bomb destruction. The physical effects of nuclear destruction are related to their social consequences, which are ultimately decisive for political and military strategy, as well as civil defense.