| Description |
xvi, 392 pages ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
The ideal number of nuclear weapons states is one: nuclear nonproliferation and the quest for American atomic supremacy -- Too stupid even for the funny papers: the myth of the American atomic monopoly, 1939-1945 -- Winning weapons: A-bombs, H-bombs, and international control, 1946-1953 -- The president in the gray flannel suit: conformity, technological utopianism, and nonproliferation, 1953-1956 -- Seeking a silver bullet: nonproliferation, the test ban, and nuclear sharing, 1957-1960 -- Tests and toughness: JFK's false start on the proliferation question, 1961-1962 -- Too big to spank: JFK, nuclear hegemony, and the limited test ban treaty, 1962-1963 -- Hunting for Easter eggs: LBJ, NATO, and nonproliferation 1963-1965 -- A treaty to castrate the impotent: codifying nuclear apartheid, 1965-1970 -- The legacy of nuclear apartheid |
| Summary |
After World War II, an atomic hierarchy emerged in the noncommunist world. Washington was at the top, followed over time by its NATO allies and then Israel, with the postcolonial world completely shut out. An Indian diplomat called the system "nuclear apartheid." Drawing on recently declassified sources from U.S. and international archives, Shane Maddock offers the first full-length study of nuclear apartheid, casting a spotlight on an ideological outlook that nurtured atomic inequality and established the United States--in its own mind--as the most legitimate nuclear power. Beginning with the discovery of fission in 1939 and ending with George W. Bush's nuclear policy and his preoccupation with the "axis of evil," Maddock uncovers the deeply ideological underpinnings of U.S. nuclear policy--an ideology based on American exceptionalism, irrational faith in the power of technology, and racial and gender stereotypes. The unintended result of the nuclear exclusion of nations such as North Korea, Pakistan, and Iran is, increasingly, rebellion. Here is an illuminating look at how an American nuclear policy based on misguided ideological beliefs has unintentionally paved the way for an international "wild west" of nuclear development, dramatically undercutting the goal of nuclear containment and diminishing U.S. influence in the world. -- Book jacket |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [349]-365) and index |
| Subject |
Nuclear weapons -- Government policy -- United States -- History.
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Nuclear arms control -- United States -- History.
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Nuclear nonproliferation -- United States -- History.
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Nuclear arms control -- Developing countries -- History.
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Nuclear weapons -- Government policy -- Developing countries -- History.
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Nuclear nonproliferation -- Developing countries -- History.
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| SUBJECT |
United States -- Foreign relations -- Developing countries.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2007100071
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Developing countries -- Foreign relations -- United States.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008114847
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| LC no. |
2009032361 |
| ISBN |
9780807833551 cloth alkaline paper |
|
080783355X cloth alkaline paper |
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