One World or None: A Report to the Public on the Full Meaning of the Atomic Bomb

by Dexter Masters, Niels Bohr, Richard Rhodes, Katharine Way, Arthur H. Compton

Overview

In 1946, just months after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the scientists who had developed nuclear technology came together to express their concerns and thoughts about the nuclear age they had unleashed. In a small, urgent book of essays, legends including Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, and Robert Oppenheimer try to help readers understand the magnitude of their scientific breakthrough, fret openly about the implications for world policy, and caution, in the words of Nobel Prize–winning chemist Harold C. Urey, that “There Is No Defense.”

The original edition of One World or None sold 100,000 copies and was a New York Times bestseller. Today, with the nuclear issue front and center once more, the book is as timely as ever.

Contributors:

• H.H. Arnold
• Niels Bohr
• Arthur H. Compton
• E.U. Condon
• Albert Einstein
• The Federation of American (Atomic) Scientists
• Irving Langmuir
• Walter Lippmann
• Philip Morrison
• J.R. Oppenheimer
• Richard Rhodes
• Louis N. Ridenour
• Frederick Seitz and Hans Bethe
• Harlow Shapley
• Leo Szilard
• Harold Urey
• Eugene P. Wigner
• Gale Young

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595582270
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	09/01/2007
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.70(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dexter Masters (1909–89) was a prolific writer and international bestselling author who helped found the Consumer’s Union. His legacy includes heading the first task force to publicize the dangers of smoking as well as being among the first to draw attention to the worldwide threat posed by the atomic bomb.

Editorial Reviews

With the two Japanese A-bombs fresh on the public's mind, this book sold more than 100,000 copies in 1946. J.R. Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, and 12 other scientists who developed nuclear technology offer their thoughts and concerns for the freshly dawned nuclear age. Many of these concerns, no doubt, still are on people's minds.

—Michael Rogers

Library Journal