Atomic Mythologies

[nathan marsh]

It's important to consider that when judging the horror of Hiroshima
vs. other events that we do so from *NOW*, and perceptions are thus
clouded by everything in between.  That instant was a singularity
in history, one that was followed by 40 years of nuclear fear and
paranoia.  Nagasaki doesn't qualify because it was second...Dresden
because it wasn't directly part of the nuclear nightmare chain-of-events.

I would be interested to find which events of WWII stood out from the
perspective of, say, 1950.

Last night I was reading the letters to the editor section of a magazine
from 1982.  Back then, it seems, the idea that WWII could have been won
without the Bomb was a radical one.  It was also educational to rediscover
the effects of two years of RR's "Evil Empire" rhetoric.

--
 -nathan marsh
 -st201026 at brownvm.brown.edu