A look at the fall-out shelters and how they reflected American anxieties and hopes during the 1950's and 60's.

With the very real possibility of nuclear war looming on the horizon from 1945 to the early 1960s, both federal and local governments took on the responsibility of educating Americans on how to survive the expected blasts, residual fallout, and radiation poisoning. Duck and cover drills, bomb shelters, and evacuation plans became an integral part of every citizen's daily life. This book provides a sampling of civil defense publications issued by government agencies and organizations during this era. Arranged thematically, the book includes sections covering the impact and power of the atomic bomb, radioactive fallout, women and the home, the importance of being prepared, civil defense in schools, fallout shelters, evacuation plans, and, finally, the call for "peace or ... else."

Attention, citizens and fellow travelers of the Cold War: Survive the Bomb is your family’s ultimate fallout shelter companion. Keep this book at the ready next to the emergency drinking water and vacuum-packed canned meats and vegetables for that moment when the saber-rattling between the world’s superpowers turns Atomic. Here are all the tips and information you’ll need to keep your family safe and secure:· A convenient set of Civil Defense carrying cards for your wallet or purse· Steps for the home handyman toward building a well-furnished fallout shelter· How to convert your home’s snack bar into a cozy secondary shelter· A checklist of items you’ll need close at hand while awaiting the “all-clear” message from local authorities· An Operation Survival! comic, including a crossword puzzle and quiz for the kids· Revealing studies, reports, and recommendations to the United States Congress and President· Wargame scenarios, aftermath descriptions, and casualty estimates at various distances from a nuclear blast· An introduction and commentaries by Cold War historian Eric G. Swedin Be alert and be prepared. Don’t let a little thing like an atomic particle spoil your day.

Hiroshima is the story of six people—a clerk, a widowed seamstress, a physician, a Methodist minister, a young surgeon, and a German Catholic priest—who lived through the greatest single manmade disaster in history. In vivid and indelible prose, Pulitzer Prize–winner John Hersey traces the stories of these half-dozen individuals from 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, when Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city, through the hours and days that followed. Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book, Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told, and his account of what he discovered is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.

Written by world-renowned scientists, this volume portrays the possible direct and indirect devastation of human health from a nuclear attack. The most comprehensive work yet produced on this subject, The Medical Implications of Nuclear War includes an overview of the potential environmental and physical effects of nuclear bombardment, describes the problems of choosing who among the injured would get the scarce medical care available, addresses the nuclear arms race from a psychosocial perspective, and reviews the medical needs--in contrast to the medical resources likely to be available--after a nuclear attack. "It should serve as the definitive statement on the consequences of nuclear war."--Arms Control Today

A fascinating collection of photographs of bomb shelters around the world. Various sites people have built to protect themselves from the unthinkable