One World or None: A Report to the Public on the Full Meaning of the Atomic Bomb

by Dexter Masters

In 1946, just months after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the scientists who had developed nuclear technology came together to express their concerns and thoughts about the nuclear age they had unleashed. In a small, urgent book of essays, legends including Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, and Robert Oppenheimer try to help readers understand the magnitude of their scientific breakthrough, fret openly about the implications for...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595582274
• ISBN13: 9781595582270
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: New Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Compelling if dated

This book appears on most of the "must read" lists for arms control, and with good reason. It's a very compelling snapshot of what the consensus (and division) among American nuclear scientists looked like in 1946. The description of those scientists of the problem before society is stark and realistic, and many of the predictions were more or less spot on. General of the Army Hap Arnold's essay on air power is particularly captivating. The book is obsessed, however, with an idea that finds expression in the title -- the notion that only a very powerful United Nations could save the world from destruction at the end of an arms race. It has not worked out that way, and many of the ideas about international law, the political commitments of scientists, and the possibilities for a "breathing period" without exploring atomic energy were unrealistic. The authors describe the moment vividly and had a clear handle on many of the moral and political issues posed by the bomb. One can hardly blame them for their pie-in-the-sky views given the publication date -- a mere year after the destruction at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Highly recommended -- it may show its age, but it has no equal as a primary text for engaging with the mindset of the newly-atomic 1940s.