Bombing the Marshall Islands

Bombing the Marshall Islands

During the Cold War, the United States conducted atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands of the Pacific. The total explosive yield of these tests was 108 megatons, equivalent to the detonation of one Hiroshima bomb per day over nineteen years. These tests, particularly Castle Bravo, the largest one, had tragic consequences, including the irradiation of innocent people and the permanent displacement of many native Marshallese. Keith M. Parsons and Robert Zaballa tell the story of the development and testing of thermonuclear weapons and the effects of these tests on their victims and on the popular and intellectual culture. These events are also situated in their Cold War context and explained in terms of the prevailing hopes, fears, and beliefs of that age. In particular, the narrative highlights the obsessions and priorities of top American officials, such as Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. "One of the best new War ebooks" - BookAuthority A narrative history of the nuclear tests conducted by the United States in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958. Keith M. Parsons, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, has won awards for both teaching and research. He has published in diverse fields including the philosophy of science, the history of science, the philosophy of religion, and logic and critical thinking. Robert Zaballa is a physicist specializing in nuclear physics. His areas of research include models of excited nuclei, high energy heavy ion collisions, and quantum space-time. In addition to teaching physics at the college level, he is currently employed as a radiographer at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta.