Nuclear Legacies: Communication, Controversy, and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex (Lexington Studies in Political Communication) - Hardcover

The volume's emphasis on communicative processes, especially in institutional settings, is a valuable contribution to study of the post-cold war period.... Combining institutional and technical history with rhetoric, communication, and anthropology generates a fascinating mix that deserves the attention of historians of technology. -- Dr. Sonja D. Schmid, assistant professor, Dept. of Science and Technology in Society, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Nuclear Legacies offers a timely and powerful reminder that the ways we talk about-or avoid talking about-nuclear weapons are often as important as the continuing presence of nukes in our world. This book greatly advances our understanding of how rhetoric, myth, and memory operate in one of the most pressing issues facing the planet today. -- George Cheney, Kent State University

Although the Cold War is commonly considered 'over,' the legacies of that conflict continue to unfold throughout the globe. One site of post-Cold War controversy involves the consequences of U.S. nuclear weapons production for worker safety, public health, and the environment. Over the past two decades, citizens, organizations, and governments have passionately debated the nature of these consequences, and how they should be managed. This volume clarifies the role of communication in creating, maintaining, and transforming the relationships between these parties, and in shaping the outcomes of related organizational and political deliberations. Providing various perspectives on nuclear culture and discourse, this anthology serves as a model of interdisciplinary communication scholarship that cuts across the subfields of political, environmental, and organizational communication studies, and rhetoric.