Filter by:

Filter by published date

Viewing 61–90 of 181 results. Go to first page
Poster for "Dr. Strangelove"

Hotline Suspense

The entire plot of Stanley Kubrick's Cold War satire turns around getting people on the phone.
Illustration of John von Neumann surrounded by mathematical formulas, by Valentin Pavageau

John von Neumann Thought He Had the Answers

The father of game theory helped develop the atom bomb—and thought he could calculate when to use it.
The physicist Klaus Fuchs standing in a group of people.

Why Scientists Become Spies

Access to information only goes so far to explain the curious link between secrets and those who tell them.
A mannequin family in a house at Operation Doorstep in Nevada, 7,500 feet from the blast.

Blackness and the Bomb

Seventy years after the civil preparedness film Duck and Cover, it's long past time to reckon with the way white supremacy shaped U.S. nuclear defense efforts.
John F. Kennedy on a TV screen.

The Book That Stopped an Outbreak of Nuclear War

A new history of the Cuban missile crisis emphasizes how close the world came to destruction—and how severe a threat the weapons still pose.
Background photo shows secret deployment of Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. On the right is a photo of Juanita Moody.

The Once-Classified Tale of Juanita Moody: The Woman Who Helped Avert a Nuclear War

America’s bold response to the Soviet Union depended on an unknown spy agency operative whose story can at last be told.
Operation Crossroads, Test Baker as seen from Bikini Atoll, July 25, 1946.

Bombs and the Bikini Atoll

The haute beachwear known as the bikini was named after a string of islands turned into a nuclear wasteland by atomic bomb testing.
The start of the comic, a bus driving through the desert with the text "I am on a BUS FULL OF HISTORIANS speeding through the desert"

The Desert Keeps Receipts

A dispatch from a tour of a Cold War-era nuclear test site in the Mojave Desert.
nuclear explosion

The Day Nuclear War Almost Broke Out

In the nearly sixty years since the Cuban missile crisis, the story of near-catastrophe has only grown more complicated.
Survivors of Hiroshima

Daughters of the Bomb: A Story of Hiroshima, Racism and Human Rights

On the 75th anniversary of the A-bomb, a Japanese-American writer speaks to one of the last living survivors.

Counting the Dead at Hiroshima and Nagasaki

How many people really died because of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings? It’s complicated. There are at least two credible answers.
August 31 1946 Cover of New Yorker magazine

The New Yorker Article Heard Round the World

Revisiting John Hersey's groundbreaking "Hiroshima."
A protestor of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant.

The Grieving Landscape

Upon discovering that her mother had been a member of the group Women Strike For Peace (WSP), Heidi Hutner becomes obsessed with feminist nuclear history.
People looking at the Fat Man bomb covered with a tarp

What Journalists Should Know About the Atomic Bombings

As we approach the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings, we're going to see a lot of journalistic takes on them — many of them totally wrong.

The Shoals of Ukraine

Why has Ukraine been a stumbling block for U.S. foreign policy since the end of the Cold War?

John Wheeler’s H-bomb Blues

In 1953, as a political battle raged over the US’s nuclear future, the physicist lost a classified document on an overnight train from Philadelphia to DC.
A UFO in front of hills

More UFOs Than Ever Before

What explains the apparently sudden spike in intergalactic traffic after WWII? If Cold War anxieties are to blame, why have sightings persisted?
Dr. Strange Love, from the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name

Watching the End of the World

The Doomsday Clock is set to two minutes to midnight. So why don't we make movies about nuclear war anymore?
Book cover of the novel Trinity, depicting a man in a business suit casting a long shadow.

On Oppenheimer

A conversation with Louisa Hall about her novel, “Trinity.”
Demonstrators advocate for a nuclear arms freeze.

The Peace Movement Won the INF Treaty. We Must Fight to Preserve It.

In the 1980s, millions of antinuclear activists took to the streets, forcing Western governments to respond to our demands.

The Nuclear Fail

Physicist and writer Leo Szilard was vital to the creation of the atomic bomb. He also did everything he could to prevent its use.

Denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula: Reviewing the Precedents

Nuclear disarmament talks with the North Koreans go back at least a quarter-century. How did we get to Singapore?
Title screen of the film "1983: The Brink of Apocalypse."

Standing on the Brink: The Secret War Scare of 1983

Remembering a time when a toxic cocktail of threats, fear, and misunderstanding nearly led us down the path to Armageddon.
partner

The Year The World Almost Blew Up – And Nobody Noticed

On November 9, 1983, the Soviet Union nearly ordered a full pre-emptive nuclear strike against the US and Western Europe.

Iran Hawks Are the New Iraq Hawks

Many of the assumptions that guided America’s march to conflict in 2003 still dominate American foreign policy today.   

How a Soviet A-Bomb Test Led the U.S. Into Climate Science

The untold story of a failed Russian geoengineering scheme, panic in the Pentagon, and a Nixon-era effort to study global cooling.

How We Nuke

Our launch protocols were designed to bypass checks and balances for a quick retaliation.

The People Who Would Survive Nuclear War

How an appendix to an obscure government report helped launch a blockbuster and push back the possibility of atomic war.

Is It Time for a 21st-Century Version of ‘The Day After’?

It’s beginning to feel like the 1980s all over again.

A 'Purely Military' Target? Truman’s Changing Language about Hiroshima

A set of speech drafts suggests that Truman may not have fully understood the implications of dropping an atomic bomb on the city.

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person