Research Catalog

Title

Atomic narratives and American youth : coming of age with the atom, 1945-1955 / Michael Scheibach.

Author

Scheibach, Michael, 1949-

Publication

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

viii, 283 p. : ill.; 23 cm.

Summary

"This multidisciplinary study examines the exposure of American young people to atomic narratives during the ten years following World War II. In addition, it examines the broader "social narrative of the atom," the educational, social, cultural and political activities that surrounded and involved American youth. The activities ranged from school and community programs to movies and television shows to government-sponsored traveling exhibits on atomic energy." "The book also presents writings by postwar adolescents, who clearly expressed their conflicted feelings, and shows how many of the issues commonly associated with the sixties generation, such as peace, fellowship, free expression, and environmental concern, can be traced to this earlier time."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• Atomic bomb > Moral and ethical aspects > United States
• Atomic bomb > Social aspects > United States
• Atomic bomb in literature
• Young adult literature > History and criticism
• Youth > Books and reading > United States
• Youth > United States

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-276) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Prologue: Sunday, August 5, 1945 1 -- Introduction: Postwar Adolescents and the Atomic Bomb 15 -- 1. Future Homemakers and Boy Cadets: School Activities for "Atom-Agers" 23 -- 2. Mouse Traps and Chain Reactions: Atomic Education in the Classroom 50 -- 3. Communism, Democracy, and Civil Defense: High School Days and Drills 72 -- 4. Brotherhood, Self-Reliance, and Survival: Senior Scholastic in Text and Images 104 -- 5. Growing Up "in a Circus Like This": Atomic Repercussions in the Movies 134 -- 6. Paper Bombs and Atomic Airwaves: The World of Print, Radio, and Television 153 -- 7. " ... to Escape the Fury of the Blast": Young Voices of a New Generation 175 -- 8. The Fusion of Youth Culture 203.

ISBN

0786415665 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2003001970

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library