Book ID: CBB433725241

Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States (2021)

unapi

Wellerstein, Alex (Author)


University of Chicago Press


Publication Date: 2021
Physical Details: 528
Language: English

The first full history of US nuclear secrecy, from its origins in the late 1930s to our post–Cold War present. The American atomic bomb was born in secrecy. From the moment scientists first conceived of its possibility to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and beyond, there were efforts to control the spread of nuclear information and the newly discovered scientific facts that made such powerful weapons possible. The totalizing scientific secrecy that the atomic bomb appeared to demand was new, unusual, and very nearly unprecedented. It was foreign to American science and American democracy—and potentially incompatible with both. From the beginning, this secrecy was controversial, and it was always contested. The atomic bomb was not merely the application of science to war, but the result of decades of investment in scientific education, infrastructure, and global collaboration. If secrecy became the norm, how would science survive?  Drawing on troves of declassified files, including records released by the government for the first time through the author’s efforts, Restricted Data traces the complex evolution of the US nuclear secrecy regime from the first whisper of the atomic bomb through the mounting tensions of the Cold War and into the early twenty-first century. A compelling history of powerful ideas at war, it tells a story that feels distinctly American: rich, sprawling, and built on the conflict between high-minded idealism and ugly, fearful power.

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Reviewed By

Review Devin Short (2022) Review of "Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States". British Journal for the History of Science (pp. 525-527). unapi

Review Paul Rubinson (2022) Review of "Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States". Journal of American History (p. 712). unapi

Review Luis A. Campos (2022) Review of "Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 898-899). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB433725241/

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Authors & Contributors
Carson, Cathryn L.
Kasperski, Tatiana
Wellerstein, Alex
Vizgin, Vladimir P.
Strasser, Bruno J.
Sopka, Katherine Russell
Concepts
Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons
Atomic, nuclear, and particle physics
Physics
Science and war; science and the military
Science and politics
Nuclear power; atomic energy
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
19th century
Places
United States
Germany
Soviet Union
Japan
Ghana
Ohio (U.S.)
Institutions
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Chemie
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