Unthinking the Unthinkable: Nuclear Weapons and Western Culture

Why in the face of potential annihilation do millions of ordinary Americans acquiesce in the existence of nuclear weapons? Why have antinuclear movements proven to be so ineffectual in bringing an end to the nuclear crisis? Why does this weapon, which neither superpower professes to want to use, continue to exist? The answer, says Jeff Smith in this remarkable book, lies not in the blindness or intransigence of national or military leaders, or even in superpower politics. It lies instead in our cultural past.