Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha

Powell's Midyear Roundup

The Best Books of 2022 (So Far)

As terrifying as it is that we once again find ourselves potentially inching towards a nuclear standoff, it's even more terrifying to consider the costs already incurred from nuclear weapons testing — a toll we will pay for centuries. This book is a disturbing read, but as the machinations of the military-industrial complex become more distant and obfuscated, it's one that needs our attention. Recommended By John Ha, Powells.com

The Cold War reconsidered as a limited nuclear war

"[A] grimly important analysis of the cold war." — Andrew Robinson Nature

"Inexorable clarity and care for his fellow humans mark Robert Jacobs's guide to the Cold War as a limited nuclear war, whose harms disfigure any possible future." — Norma Field, author of In the Realm of a Dying Emperor: Japan at Century's End

In the fall of 1961, President Kennedy somberly warned Americans about deadly radioactive fallout clouds extending hundreds of miles from H-bomb detonations, yet he approved ninety-six US nuclear weapon tests for 1962. Cold War nuclear testing, production, and disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima have exposed millions to dangerous radioactive particles; these millions are the global hibakusha. Many communities continue to be plagued with dire legacies and ongoing risks: sickness and early mortality, forced displacement, uncertainty and anxiety, dislocation from ancestors and traditional lifestyles, and contamination of food sources and ecosystems.

Robert A. Jacobs re-envisions the history of the Cold War as a slow nuclear war, fought on remote battlegrounds against populations powerless to prevent the contamination of their lands and bodies. His comprehensive account necessitates a profound rethinking of the meaning, costs, and legacies of our embrace of nuclear weapons and technologies.

"Jacobs leaves behind the division of nuclear power into civilian and military spheres. He argues convincingly that propagandists drew this line in order to clear the way for the unhindered pursuit of nuclear weapons. In so doing, he masterfully shows how military leaders waged a limited nuclear war on the environment and human bodies." — Kate Brown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"[A] grimly important analysis of the cold war." — Andrew Robinson, Nature

"Inexorable clarity and care for his fellow humans mark Robert Jacobs's guide to the Cold War as a limited nuclear war, whose harms disfigure any possible future." — Norma Field, author of In the Realm of a Dying Emperor: Japan at Century's End

Robert A. Jacobs is a professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute of Hiroshima City University. He is the co-founder of the Global Hibakusha Project, conducting field research on radiation-affected communities in more than twenty countries.