Prof. Mark Walker
Lippman Hall 216
Office hours: Mondays, 10:00-11:00 and 2:00-5:00, as well as by appointment.
walkerm@union.edu


Learning Outcomes

During this class, you should learn:

(1) The most important elements of the history of the “Nuclear Age”; (2) How to distinguish between primary and secondary sources and read them critically; (3) How to formulate a clear, focused and appropriate research question and thesis. (4) How to identify and locate evidence appropriate for examining your research question and thesis; (5) How to analyze critically evidence obtained for examination of your research question and thesis; (6) How to develop and organize a logical argument grounded in the analysis of evidence that supports or refutes your research question and thesis; (7) How to present a logical analytical argument supported by evidence in an appropriate written form without errors of grammar, usage, or spelling; (8) How to incorporate and cite evidence.

Or in other words: Why do you know what you know? Unless you have to, why should you take someone else’s word for it? Do your own research, find your own evidence, and construct your own argument.


Cell Phones, Tablets, and Laptops

The use of phones is not allowed. All phones must be shut off before class begins. If you use phones during the class, then your final grade will be lowered. Tablets or laptops may only be used if I have given you permission to do so ahead of time.


Class Participation

I expect you to do all of the assigned reading, come to every class, and participate in the classroom discussion. I will use index cards to call on students by name but also invite voluntary comments and questions.

Four times during the term, students will be assigned the task of finding additional sources for the theme of the class, and reporting on them to the rest of the class. This will also be incorporated into the class participation grade.

The baseline class participation grade for a student who comes to class, finds and reports on sources when it is their turn, and responds to my questions will be a C. For a B a student has to do this well, and for an A a student has also to volunteer comments, questions, and answers.


Readings

One book is required for this class, John Hersey, Hiroshima (New York: Vintage, 1989). All other common reading will be available as pdf files on the class Nexus site or will be handed out in class.


Disability Accommodations

Students needing academic accommodations for a disability must first be registered with Accommodative Services to verify the disability and to establish eligibility for accommodations. Students may call 518-388-8785 or visit http://www.union.edu/offices/accommodative-services/ to begin the process. Once registered, students should then schedule an appointment with the professor to make appropriate arrangements.


Honor Code

Union College recognizes the need to create an environment of mutual trust as part of its educational mission. Responsible participation in an academic community requires respect for and acknowledgement of the thoughts and work of others, whether expressed in the present or in some distant time and place.

Matriculation at the College is taken to signify implicit agreement with the Academic Honor Code. It is each student’s responsibility to ensure that submitted work is his or her own and does not involve any form of academic misconduct. Students are expected to ask their course instructors for clarification regarding, but not limited to, collaboration, citations, and plagiarism. Ignorance is not an excuse for breaching academic integrity.

Please read through this statement on plagiarism.

Students are also required to affix the full Honor Code Affirmation, or the following shortened version, on each item of coursework submitted for grading: “I affirm that I have carried out my academic endeavors with full academic honesty.” [Signed, Jane Doe]

Please include the Honor Code Affirmation on each assignment you submit.


Research

Four times during the term, each student will present briefly during class a primary or secondary source they have found and read that is relevant to the current section of the course.


Internet Sources

You may only use certain internet sources, and only in certain ways. In particular, websites like wikipedia may be used only in order to find other sources, not for information, and certainly not for copying text. Although some webpages are valuable, articles and books found only on the internet may also be problematic. Before you use a website in any way in your research paper, you have to get my approval first.

Articles acquired through one of the databases provided through Shaffer Library, for example, JSTOR, should be cited as they originally appeared, so that internet information should not be included. However, some publications are internet-only and have to be cited in a different way.


Note-Taking

You should take notes as you read your sources, either handwritten or typed into your word processor. Highlighting is not effective. If you take notes, make sure to write down the complete citation of the source at the beginning of your notes, keep a running tally of the page numbers of what you write down, and be sure to distinguish between your paraphrase and direct quotations.


Citation of Sources

You must use footnotes, not references in the text. It is important that you understand that footnotes are not reserved for direct quotations. If you get significant information from a source, you have to cite it even if you do not take a direct quotation from it. If you have any questions about using citations, please see this part of the Shaffer Library website.


Writing Assignments

 There will be four essay assignments based mainly upon the assigned reading, which fulfills the requirements for a WAC course. I would like papers around five double-spaced pages long, but they may be longer. The class outline below includes when the paper topics will be due.

For each essay, I want you to use at least three or four sources and construct your own essay topic and argument within the thematic bounds I have set. These sources should come from the assigned reading and the additional sources found and reported on by students. Along with writing style and grammar, your grade will depend on the quality of the essay topic you choose, what and how many sources you find, how you use these sources, and finally how good your argument is.

The final paper may be on any part of “Nuclear History” and must include several significant sources that go beyond the assigned reading. Students will present their research results via a PowerPoint/Keynote presentation on the last day of class. This presentation will be graded as part of the final paper.

All assignments must be sent to me either as word processing files via email, or via Google Docs. Please do not give me paper and ink copies. I will return them with comments via Google Docs or email as well.

Late assignments will receive lower grades. Assignments that do not fulfill the requirements (see above) will be returned without being looked at. You will be better off submitting a complete assignment late, than sending me an incomplete assignment on time. I will return them with comments via email as well.

The first three papers may be resubmitted and, if they are significantly improved, the grades will be raised. All papers must be submitted in an acceptable quality to pass the course.


Grading Criteria

40 Four short papers, ten points each
15 Midterm exam
15 Class participation
30 Final exam


Video

Since the nuclear age is recent, a great deal of video source material is available. We will watch some video in most class sessions.


Week 1

 

Tuesday, March 28: Introduction

I Overview of Class

II Overview of the Nuclear Age

III Begin reading William Laurence, Dawn over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb (New York: Knopf, 1947), 179-289; John Hersey, Hiroshima (New York: Vintage, 1989) [originally 1946], 1-152, we will discuss on April 11th.

Thursday, March 30: The World Not Seen

I Video: “Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail” [Part 1: 1:49-32:00].

II Discussion of Assigned Reading: Spencer Weart, “The Heyday of Myth and Cliché,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (1985), 38-43; Frederick Soddy, “The Energy of Radium,” Harper’s Magazine (1909), 52-59; “Nuclear Energy: H.G. Wells’ Vision, 1914” in Phillip Cantelon, Richard Hewlett, and Robert Williams (eds.), The American Atom: A Documentary History of Nuclear Policies from the Discovery of Fission to the Present, 2nd Ed. (Philadelphia, U. of Pennsylvania Press, 1991), 3-7.

III In-Class Research Workshop.


Week 2

 

Tuesday, April 4: Manhattan Project: Scientists and Engineers

I Video: “The Bomb”: “A New Reality” to “Trinity” [0:00-40:15].

II Group one presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Cantelon, 7-11, 21-31, 37-61; William Laurence, Dawn over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb (New York: Knopf, 1947), 179-195.

Thursday, April 6: Hiroshima and Nagasaki

I Video: “The Bomb”: “Decision” to “Turning Points” [40:15-1:00:05]; “Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail” [Part 1: 45:25-53:40]

II Group three presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Laurence, 196-252; John Hersey Hiroshima (New York: Vintage, 1989) [originally 1946], 1-152.


Week 3

 

Tuesday, April 11: The Decision to Drop the Bomb

I Video: “The Bomb”: “Fallout” to “An Atomic World” [1:00:06-1:20:00]; “Atomic Cafe” [10:20-16:45].

II Group four presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Gar Alperovitz, “Hiroshima: Historians Reassess,” Foreign Policy, 99 (1995), 15-34.

Thursday, April 13: Atomic Spies, McCarthyism, and the Cold War

I Video: “Hanford” [44:00-51:00]; “Atomic Cafe” [16:40-35:35].

II Group one presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Cantelon, Hewlett, and Williams, 96-104, 117-23, & 142-150.


Week 4

 

Tuesday, April 18: Civil Defense, Nuclear Tests and Fallout

I Video: “Atomic Cafe” [35:35-1:25:00]

II Group two presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Laurence, 275-289; Margot Henriksen, Dr. Strangelove’s America: Society and Culture in the Atomic Age (Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1997), 87-111; “Operation Crossroads, “National Geographic, 91, No. 4 (1947), 519-530 [excerpt]; John L. Eliot, “In Bikini Lagoon, Life Thrives in a Nuclear Graveyard,” National Geographic, 161, No. 6 (1992), 70-83 [excerpt]; Samuel Matthews, “Nevada Learns to Live with the Atom,” National Geographic, 103, No. 6 (1953), 839-850 [excerpt].

Wednesday, April 19

Five page paper on the first atomic bombs. Due via email by 11:59 PM.

Thursday, April 20: Gojira

Video: Gojira [Godzilla] (1954) [97:00.]


Week 5

 

Tuesday, April 25: Midterm Exam

 

Thursday, April 27: Atomic Euphoria

I Video:  “Atomic Energy as a Force for Good” (1955) [27:28]; “The Atom Soldier” (1955) [28:05]; “Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail” [Part 2: 2:12-5:28].

II Groups three and four present the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Laurence, 253-274; Angela Creager, “Radiation, Cancer, and Mutation in the Atomic Age,” Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, 45/1 (2015), 14-48;  F. Barrows Colton, “Man’s New Servant, the Friendly Atom: ‘Tamed’ Atomic Energy Fights Disease, Helps Factories and Farmers, and May Become an Important New Source of Industrial Power,” National Geographic, CV (January 1954), 71-90 [excerpt]; Allan C. Fisher Jr., “You and the Obedient Atom,” National Geographic, 114, No. 9 (1958), 303-353 [excerpt].


Week 6

 

Tuesday, May 2: Nuclear Power: “Too Cheap to Meter.”

I Video: “Power and Promise: The Story of Shippingport Nuclear Power Plant” (1954) [29:26]; “Nuclear Energy Explained: How Does It Work?” [5:17].

II Group one presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Cantelon, 104-108, 303-320; Alvin M. Weinberg, “To Breed, or Not to Breed?” Across the Board: The Conference Board Magazine, XIV, No. 9 (September, 1977), 4-24; Kenneth F. Weaver, “The Promise and Peril of Nuclear Energy?” National Geographic, 155, No. 4 (1979), 459-493 [excerpt].

Wednesday, May 3

Five page paper on McCarthyism, Civil Defense, and Nuclear Tests. Due via email by 11:59 PM.

Thursday, May 4: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Aftermath

I Video: “Meltdown at Three Mile Island” (1999) [53:15] and “Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail” [Part 2: 12:07-39:18].

II Group two presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Cantelon, 338-356; Alvin Weinberg, “The Future of Nuclear Energy,” in Michio Kaku and Jennifer Trainer (eds.), Nuclear Power: Both Sides (New York: Norton, 1982), 219-226; Mike Edwards, “Chernobyl–One Year After,” National Geographic, 171, No. 5 (1987), 632-653 [excerpt].


Week 7

Tuesday, May 9: Fukishima and Aftermath

I Video: “Nuclear Meltdown Disaster” [0:00-54:00].

II Group three presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Jacob Darwin Hamblin, “Fukushima and the Motifs of Nuclear History,” Environmental History, 17 (2012), 285-299.

Thursday, May 11: Decommissioning and Nuclear Waste

I Video: “Hanford” [51:00-58:00]; “Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail” [Part 2: 39:18-45:38]; “The Nuclear Option” [0:00-23:57].

II Group four presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: John Stuckless and Robert Levich, “The Road to Yucca Mountain–Evolution of Nuclear Waste Disposal in the United States,” Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, 22/1 (2016), 1-25.


Week 8

 

Tuesday, May 16: The Cuban Missile Crisis

I Video: “Cuban Missile Crisis: Three Men Go to War.”

II Group one presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: ; Jeffrey Porro (ed.), The Nuclear Age Reader (1989), 152-154, 185-186; Arthur Cyr, “The Cuban Missile Crisis after Fifty Years,” Orbis, 57/1 (2012), 5-19.

Wednesday, May 17

Five page paper on Nuclear Power. Due via email by 11:59 PM.

Thursday, May 18: Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

I Video: World’s Biggest Bomb [53:30]; “Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail,” Extra: “Titan Missile Museum” [0:00-7:12].

II Group two presents the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Cantelon, 193-207; Porro, 193-194, 434-435.


Week 9

 

Tuesday, May 23: Dr. Strangelove

Video: “Dr. Strangelove, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1963) [90 Min.]

Thursday, May 25: Nuclear Proliferation

I Video: “Every Nuclear Bomb Explosion in History” [2:32]; Minute Physics: “Why You Should Care About Nukes” [3:14]; Minute Physics: “How To Detect A Secret Nuclear Test” [3:47]; SciShow Space: “The Unexpected Effects of Nukes in Space” [4:40]; SciShow: “Could We Destroy the Earth?” [2:42].

II Groups three and four present the sources they have found.

III Discussion of assigned reading: Porro, 269-270, 277-282, 285-292.


Week 10

 

Tuesday, May 30: The Future of the Nuclear Age. 

I Video: “Three Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Terrible!” [4:09]; “Three Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Awesome!” [4:20]; “The Nuclear Option” [23:57-54:09]; “Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail” [Part 2: 45:38-54:05].

II Discussion of assigned reading: Olli Heinonen,”Reporting from the Front Lines of Nuclear Proliferation,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 67/2 (2011), 1-9; Tom Wigley, “Why Nuclear Power May Be the Only Way to Avoid Geoengineering,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 70/3 (2014), 10-16; Joe Romm, “Why Nuclear Power Will Not Be the Whole Solution to Climate Change,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 71/6 (2015), 52-58; Robert Socolow, “Climate Change and Destiny Studies: Creating Our Near and Far Futures,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 71/6 (2015), 18-28.

Thursday, June 1

Student PowerPoint/Keynote Presentations in Class.


Exam Period

Final exam

Thursday, June 8, 11:59 PM

Fourth paper assignment on a topic on any part of “Nuclear History” and all revisions of earlier assignments. Due by email by 11:59 PM.