Living in a Nuclear World: From Fukushima to Hiroshima (History and Philosophy of Technoscience) by Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent (Routledge) Price verified 5 hours ago

The Fukushima disaster invites us to look back and probe how nuclear technology has shaped the world we live in, and how we have come to live with it. Since the first nuclear detonation (Trinity test) and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all in 1945, nuclear technology has profoundly affected world history and geopolitics, as well as our daily life and natural world. It has always been an instrument for national security, a marker of national sovereignty, a site of technological innovation and a promise of energy abundance. It has also introduced permanent pollution and the age of the Anthropocene. This volume presents a new perspective on nuclear history and politics by focusing on four interconnected themes-violence and survival; control and containment; normalizing through denial and presumptions; memories and futures-and exploring their relationships and consequences. It proposes an original reflection on nuclear technology from a long-term, comparative and transnational perspective. It brings together contributions from researchers from different disciplines (anthropology, history, STS) and countries (US, France, Japan) on a variety of local, national and transnational subjects. Finally, this book offers an important and valuable insight into other global and Anthropocene challenges such as climate change.

Genre: History

Tanks for the Memories: The 712th Tank Battalion in World War II by Aaron Elson (5 Reviews)    Price verified 30 minutes ago

Aaron Elson bought a little Sony Recording Walkman to preserve his father's war stories. His dad passed away two weeks later, and Aaron never got to use it with him. A few years later, he found a newsletter from the 712th Tank Battalion addressed to his dad. He wrote and asked if anybody remembered Lieutenant Elson. He got a letter back inviting him to a reunion. He went, and brought the tape recorder. The rest is history. Oral history. After landing in Normandy three weeks after D-Day, the independent 712th Tank Battalion spent 311 days in combat, many of them on the front lines in support of the 90th "Texas-Oklahoma" Infantry Division. Thanks to its skilled drivers, excellent mechanics, accurate gunners, daring tank commanders and good officers, it became known as the "armored fist" of the 90th Division. These are the people you'll meet in "Tanks for the Memories," in their own words.

Genre: History

Kaleidoscope by Graham Wilson (11 Reviews)    Price verified one minute ago

A place of endless bright colours which fuse in my mind into a kaleidoscope. A remembered story of my family's life in a distant world, on aboriginal land in Australia's Northern Territory, a place like remote Canada or Alaska, where few others go. It is the landscape of Crocodile Dundee, myriad hues of billabongs, open grass plains, sunlit hills and purple storms, peopled by its many coloured children. In a changing world a missionary family and aboriginal community became part of modern Australia over 50 years. What is it about the Northern Territory that fascinates? If I mention its name in conversation and people stop to listen. Why, for nearly 200 years, has it drawn people to come, stay longer than they imagined and often, never leave? This our family's story, growing amongst the people, animals and places and colours of this this strange land, within an aboriginal community going through huge changes; citizenship, alcohol, uranium mining, land rights, outstation development, and community self-management. The role of my father in road transport including building a crossing of the East Alligator River, developing outstations for aboriginal communities, learning to fly on missionary wages and establishing an aviation service along with assisting the aboriginal peoples of this land to gain royalties from mining is a story that deserves to be told as a major part of NT history. Along with his tireless work the contribution of many others to the making of the Northern Territory is the fabric of this story. It also tells of my mother and fathers' lives and Christian beliefs which motivated their contribution to this change. It is a story of my memories and love for this remote and beautiful place, in which I lived as a child then worked as an adult and of many NT characters who gave me the memories. It is also the story of me working as an adult across many parts of the NT and about the hardy, outlandish characters that inhabit this place. It also tells ...

Genre: History