Professor Meg Jacobs
Spring 2010
M 2-5
21H.131 The United States in the Nuclear Age
The dropping of the first atomic bomb at the end of World War II ushered in a new
era in American history. From here on, warfare posed the threat of total annihilation
and Americans lived with anxiety over atomic weapons. But nuclear power also
promised a path to a prosperous future. This course explores multiple paths
Americans pursued toward securing access to cheap and abundant energy in the
nuclear age and the challenges they encountered along the way. Topics include
nuclear power, suburbanization and the new car culture, the environmental
movement and the challenges of clean energy, the Middle East and supply of oil, the
energy crisis of the 1970s, and global warming.
The class will be conducted as a discussion-based seminar. Each week we will
discuss a different topic. The purpose of the readings is to give you a historical
background and introduce you to the many different ways that Americans have
thought about power in the nuclear age. Along with the assigned readings, you will
assemble a primary source journal of historical documents on each topic we study.
Those documents will facilitate our class discussions. In addition to our weekly
readings, you will produce an original research paper.
Class participation: 30 %
Primary source journal: 20%
Research Paper: 50%
Readings include selections from:
Allan Winkler, Life Under A Cloud: American Anxiety about the Atom
Adam Rome, A Bulldozer in The Countryside, Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of
American Environmentalism
Karen Merrill. The Oil Crisis of 1973-74, A Brief History with Documents
J. Samuel Walker, Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective
Dan Horowitz, Jimmy Carter and the Energy Crisis of the 1970s, A Brief History With
Documents
David Farber, Taken Hostage: The Iran Hostage Crisis and America's First Encounter
With Radical Islam
David Goodstein, Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil
Week One: Introduction
February 8
Week Two: The Bomb
February 16
Allan Winkler, Life Under A Cloud: American Anxiety about the Atom, 3-33
J. Samuel Walker, Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective, ix-70
Week Three: Car Culture
February 22
Adam Rome, A Bulldozer in The Countryside, Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of
American Environmentalism, xi-86
Week Four: Silent Spring
March 1
Adam Rome, A Bulldozer in The Countryside, 87-188
Week Five: Earth Day
March 8
Adam Rome, A Bulldozer in The Countryside, 189-270
Week Six: Arab Embargo
March 15
Karen Merrill. The Oil Crisis of 1973-74, A Brief History with Documents, 1-133
Week Seven: Three Mile Island
March 29
J. Samuel Walker, Three Mile Island, 71-244
Week Eight: Gas Lines
April 5
Dan Horowitz, Jimmy Carter and the Energy Crisis of the 1970s, 1-171
Week Nine: Gulf Wars
April 12
David Farber, Taken Hostage: The Iran Hostage Crisis and America's First Encounter
With Radical Islam, 1-190
Week Ten: Research Papers
April 26
Week Eleven: Global Warming
May 3
David Goodstein, Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil, 15-131
Week Twelve: The Future
May 10
Karen Merrill. The Oil Crisis of 1973-74, A Brief History with Documents, 134-157
Dan Horowitz, Jimmy Carter and the Energy Crisis of the 1970s, 172-184
MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu
21H.131 The United States in the Nuclear Age
Fall 2000
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