Hope in Hard Times

Loeb, author of Nuclear Culture, measures the growth of the peace (or anti-nuclear) movement by examining the lives and actions of ordinary citizens who have made this cause their own. The finely limned subjects range from plucky octogenarians to bold housewives and outspoken preachers, and offer evidence of broad, diverse activism. Loeb maintains that this anti-nuke populism has led to an ""engagement with ultimate issues,'' making activists distrust experts and the ``atomic priesthood,'' feel apprehension about the growing military budget and resist fatalistic cynicism. Loeb also rebuts the charge that the U.S. peace movement is an unwitting tool of the Soviets, and he argues against the militarization of the planet and the ideological polarities between East and West. Except for occasional glibness (such as drawing analogies between nuclear reactors and Auschwitz), this is a solid, if partisan, examination of the anti-nuclear phenomenon. (October)