Rise & Fall of Nuclearism - CL.

In this reinterpretation of the nuclear age, Ungar, a sociologist at the University of Toronto, analyzes the interaction between nuclearism--the belief that the power of the bomb is a source of salvation--and nuclear fear--the frequent panics evoked by that power. Much of the book includes conventional history, based on secondary sources, but Ungar makes some insightful points. He describes how the nuclear bomb's inventors invoked religious images to describe its power while acknowledging their own sense of foreboding. In America, the bomb's supporters invoked the communist threat to downplay public fear. Ungar then analyzes four panics--involving the Korean War, Sputnik, the Cuban missile crisis and Afghanistan--to show how they led to periodic arms build-ups, even though the threats were exaggerated. He suggests that such mass outbreaks of fear recall apocalyptic movements of the past. His study of current ``Soviet'' strategy is dated, but his conclusion that only ``an acute episode of nuclear fear''--such as a threat from a ``pariah'' country like Iraq--will prompt nuclear powers to support a comprehensive test ban seems cogent, given concerns about Third World proliferation. (Sept.)