Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts you thought you knew.
This time: the ‘genocide machine’ – nuclear war. With Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the father of the atomic bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer on its way and anxieties about Putin’s nuclear arsenal in the air, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey take us through how the human race learned to live with the first weapon that could potentially spell global annihilation.
From the invention of the atomic bomb in a novel by HG Wells to the triumph of the Manhattan Project and the horror of Hiroshima, a modern Pandora’s Box opens. Einstein calls his role in the story his “one great mistake”, Oppenheimer says he has blood on his hands, and an anxious world wonders if it will be blown up tomorrow.
This one has the lot: fear, guilt, paranoia and a glimpse of the end of the world.
Listen to Part 2 right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod
“It wasn’t just a weapon. It’s an angry god. It’s Godzilla.” – Dorian Lynskey
“The peoples of this world must unite or they will perish… The atomic bomb has spelled [these words] out for all to understand.” – J Robert Oppenheimer
“There should be a statue of Vasili Arkhipov in every town in the world. His refusal to fire stopped a nuclear war.” – Ian Dunt
Reading List:
Luis Alvarez – Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist
Martin Amis – Einstein’s Monsters
Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
David C. Cassidy – J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century
Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi – The Worlds of Herman Kahn
Herman Kahn – On Thermonuclear War
William Lanouette – Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard
William L. Laurence – Dawn Over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb
Robert Jay Lifton and Richard Falk - Indefensible Weapons
Ronald Reagan – An American Life
Jonathan Schell – The Fate of the Earth
P.D. Smith – Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon
H.G. Wells – The World Set Free
The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, by Lawrence Freedman and Jeffrey Michaels
The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski
Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production.
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Nuclear War part 1: The Unthinkable | Origin Story podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
