The Manhattan Project, the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Development of Nuclear Weapons
Description:
This lecture will detail the history of the development of the atomic bomb by the United States in the Manhattan Project during World War Two and the subsequent use of nuclear weapons on the cities and peoples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. We will examine the narrative of the bombing from both the US and the Japanese perspectives. We will then consider the development of nuclear weapons since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, paying special attention to both technological and political developments.
Objective:
To provide a solid grounding for students about the history of the use
of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and then to frame the current
situation regarding the existence and proliferation of nuclear weapons
so that students can understand the challenges of humanity faces when dealing
with weapons of mass destruction.
Recommended Readings:
Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.
Cort, Michael. The Columbia Guide to Hiroshima and the Bomb. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. HBO, 2007 (DVD).
Name: Robert JACOBS
Present Post and Title: Associate Professor, Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima City University.
Final Education: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ph.D.
Specialized Field: American Cultural and Social History, History of Science and Technology,
Popular Culture Studies
Recent Publications:
*The Dragon's Tail: Americans Face the Atomic Age (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2009), forthcoming
*Editor, Filling the Hole in the Future: Art and Popular Culture in Response to
the Atomic Bomb in the US and Japan (Lantham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009), forthcoming
I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago where I was taught to Duck and Cover
in my elementary school. I received a self-designed B.A. at the University
of Minnesota in Minneapolis. I did my graduate work in history at the University
of Illinois where I received both my masters and doctorate. Soon after
graduation I was appointed to my present position at the Hiroshima Peace
Institute. My personal interests include a long involvement in the organic
produce community in California, writing poetry and cooking.
