There is a lingering ambivalence in the United States about atomic weapons with vindicating narratives battling with critical assessments of their use against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Smithsonian Museum became a battleground of these competing narratives in 1995 when the curator attempted to stage a show that presented the varied discourses about the bombings and artifacts from the bomb sites. In the end, opponents succeeded in censoring the show, stifling criticism of President Harry Truman's decision and excluding emotive reminders of what happened to those who were bombed.
In "Dragon's Tail," Robert Jacobs focuses on "nuclear narratives" from 1945 to 1963 when the U.S. conducted aboveground testing. He helps us understand how the first generation of Americans living in the atomic age confronted this sinister specter. It was both a scary and heady time, with concerns about Armageddon vying with hopes that atomic power might change the world for the better.