Atomic Fragments
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€55.99
20th century american history
20th century world history
A01=Mary Palevsky
atomic bomb
atomic bombings
Author_Mary Palevsky
bomb builders
building the atomic bomb
Category=JWMN
Category=NHB
Category=NHWL
Category=NHWR7
Category=PDX
Category=PDZ
Category=QDTQ
death
development of the atomic bomb
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
ethics
fat man
hiroshima
japan
little boy
manhattan project
mass death
military attack
military strategy
moral questions
morality
nagasaki
nuclear weapons
pacific theater of the war
parents
philosopher
politics of war
scientists
second world war
united states of america
war
war and peace
weapons
weapons of mass destruction
Product details
- ISBN 9780520220553
- Weight: 590g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 29 Jun 2000
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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More than most of us, Mary Palevsky needed to come to terms with the moral complexities of the atomic bomb: her parents worked on its development during World War II and were profoundly changed by that experience. After they died, unanswered questions sent their daughter on a search for understanding. This compelling, sometimes heart-wrenching chronicle is the story of that quest. It takes her, and us, on a journey into the minds, memories, and emotions of the bomb builders. Scientists Hans Bethe, Edward Teller, Joseph Rotblat, Herbert York, Philip Morrison, and Robert Wilson, and philosopher David Hawkins responded to Palevsky's personal approach in a way that dramatically expands their previously published statements. Her skill and passion as an interlocutor prompt these men to recall their lives vividly and to reexamine their own decisions, debating within themselves the complex issues raised by the bomb. The author herself, seeking to comprehend the widely differing ways in which individual scientists made choices about the bomb and made sense of their work, deeply reconsiders those questions of commitment and conscience her parents faced.
In personal vignettes that complement the interviews, she captures other remembrances of the bomb through commemorative events and chance encounters with people who were 'there'. Her concluding chapter reframes the crucial moral questions in terms that show the questions themselves to be the abiding legacy we all share. This beautifully written book bridges generations to make its readers participants in the ongoing dialogue about science and philosophy, war and peace.
Mary Palevsky directs the Nevada Test Site Oral History Project at UNLV.
