Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1986. – 636 pp. - ISBN: 0-309-56408-5.On August 6, 1945, a 15-kiloton atomic bomb ignited the center of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, flattening it and killing more than 100,000 people. Just three days later, a second bomb was exploded over the city of Nagasaki, resulting in the deaths of another 70,
000. For months after the attack, many survivors developed symptoms that puzzled doctors: blood cell abnormalities, high fevers, chronic fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, and depression. Physicians began to term these symptoms "radiation sickness." It would eventually be revealed that survivors were experiencing an increased incidence of certain forms of cancer. Now, forty-one years later, the destructive power of a 15-kiloton bomb (equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT) is dwarfed by weapons of megaton force (1 million tons of TNT). Although development of ever more destructive weapons continues, scientific examination of the effects of nuclear weapons upon the short- and long-term health of survivors, as well as upon the environment, has lagged until very recently.Contents.
Foreword. - Lewis Thomas.
Preface. - Robert Q. Marston, and Fredric Solomon.
Understanding and Preventing Nuclear War: The Expanding Role of the Scientific Community. - David A. Hamburg.
Nuclear War with Modern Weapons: Physical Effects and Environmental Consequences.
Possible Fatalities from Superfires Following Nuclear Attacks in or near Urban Areas. - Theodore A. Postol.
A Review of the Physics of Large Urban Fires. - H.L. Brode, and R.D. Small.
Recent Assessments of the Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War. - Richard P. Turco.
Nuclear Famine: The Indirect Effects of Nuclear War. - Mark A. Harwell, and Christine C. Harwell.
Nuclear Winter: The State of the Science. - George F. Carrier.
Atmospheric Perturbations of Large-Scale Nuclear War. - Robert C. Malone.
Possible Toxic Environments Following a Nuclear War. - John W. Birks, and Sherry L. Stephens.
Radioactive Fallout. - Charles S. Shapiro, Ted F. Harvey, and Kendall R. Peterson.
Health Consequences of Nuclear War.
Casualties Due to the Blast, Heat, and Radioactive Fallout from Various Hypothetical Nuclear Attacks on the United States. - William Daugherty, Barbara Levi, and Frank von Hippel.
Acute Radiation Mortality in a Nuclear War. - Joseph Rotblat.
Burn and Blast Casualties: Triage in Nuclear War. - Jennifer Leaning.
Food and Nutrition in the Aftermath of Nuclear War. - Alexander Leaf.
Psychological Consequences of Disaster: Analogies for the Nuclear Case. - James Thompson.
The Immunological Impact of Nuclear Warfare. - David S. Greer, and Lawrence S. Rifkin.
Expected Incidence of Cancer Following Nuclear War. - Nikolai P. Bochkov, and Per Oftedal.
Genetic Consequences of Nuclear War. - Per Oftedal.
Medical Resource Needs and Availability Following Nuclear War.
Medical Supply and Demand in a Post-Nuclear-War World. - Herbert L. Abrams.
The Consequences of Nuclear War: An Economic and Social Perspective. - Hal Cochrane, and Dennis Mileti.
Images and Risks of Nuclear War: Psychosocial Perspectives.
Children's and Adolescents' Perceptions of the Threat of Nuclear War: Implications of Recent Studies. - William R. Beardslee.
Scandinavian Youth View the Future: A Preliminary Report of a Large Questionnaire Survey. - Magne Raundalen, and Ole Johan Finnoy.
Adult Beliefs, Feelings, and Actions Regarding Nuclear War: Evidence from Surveys and Experiments. - Susan T. Fiske.
Hope and the Denial of Stress in the Nuclear Age. - Shlomo Breznitz.
The Nuclear Arms Race and the Psychology of Power. - Jerome D. Frank.
Managerial Demands of Modem Weapons Systems. - John D. Steinbruner.
Sources of Human Instability in the Handling of Nuclear Weapons. - Herbert L. Abrams.
The Impact of Crisis-Induced Stress on Decision Making. - Alexander L. George.
Long-Term Consequences of and Prospects for Recovery from Nuclear War: Two Views.
View I. - Carl Sagan.
View II. - Lynn R. Anspaugh.
Concluding Remarks.
Summary and Perspective: With Some Observations on Informed Consent. - Herbert L. Abrams.
Glossary.
Biographies of Contributors.
Index.
