4:00-5:15P     TR     BH215

Above section open to majors only
Above section COAS intensive writing section and requires
registration in COAS W333

In this course we will look at the invention and fabrication of the
A-bomb as a subset of the overall United States war effort.  We will
read 2 books conveying the bulk of the narrative:  In The Making of
the Atomic Bomb (NY, 1986), Richard Rhodes narrates the process by
which America mobilized science and technology as instruments of
policy and carried out the Manhattan Project to make an A-bomb.  The
other book is J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds (NY, 1985),
by Peter Goodchild.  It recounts the life and career of the leading
physicist involved in the making of the atom bomb.  Other readings and
films raise epistemological questions about the discipline of history
and/or make an attempt to assess the further development and
deployment of nuclear weapons.

Seminar papers will take up problems arising from the genesis of the
atomic bomb, an issue that lies at the vital intersection of science,
politics, and war in the modern world.  The papers will use primary
sources to address questions such as these:
·Who had the knowledge to build the bomb; why and how did they come by
it?
·How was this massive scientific and engineering task organized and
carried out?
·Did the US treat Japan the same as Germany in preparing an atomic
attack?
·Did the bomb, when dropped twice in August 1945, force Japan to
surrender?
·Finally, how do the competing demands of memory and history create
ambivalence for public efforts to commemorate the events of 1945?

No bluebook exams, no final exam.  Eight paperback books required.
Take-home midterm exam, one short problem paper, bibliographical
essay.  10-12 page seminar paper due in late April.  Fulfills COAS
Intensive Writing requirement.  All writing assignments will total
6,000 to 7,000 words.

Required Books for J400 (8, all paperback):
Boyle, John H. Japan: The American Nexus.  Harcourt Brace, 1993  ISBN
0-15-500324-0
Dower, John W. War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War.
Random-House Pantheon, 1986  0-394-75172-8
Goodchild, Peter.  J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds.  Fromm
International, 1980 (1985)  0-88064-021-9
Kanon, Joseph.  Los Alamos. Dell, 1997  0-440-22407-1 (fiction!)
Rhodes, Richard. Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, Simon &
Schuster, 1995.  0-684-82414-0
______. The Making of the Atomic Bomb.  Simon & Schuster, 1986.
0-684-81378-5
Stoff, Michael B. et.al., eds. The Manhattan Project: A Documentary
Introduction to the Atomic Age. McGraw-Hill, 1991. 0-07-557209-5
Wilson, Norman J. History in Crisis?  Prentice-Hall, 1999.
0-13-903205-3