''The Bomb'' is a 2015 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

about the

history of nuclear weapons Nuclear weapons possess enormous destructive power from nuclear fission or combined fission and fusion reactions. Building on scientific breakthroughs made during the 1930s, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and free France collabora ...

, from theoretical scientific considerations at the very beginning, to their first use on August 6, 1945,(re

William L. Laurence William Leonard Laurence (March 7, 1888 – March 19, 1977) was a Jewish American science journalist best known for his work at '' The New York Times''. Born in the Russian Empire, he won two Pulitzer Prizes. As the official historian of the ...

Pulitzer prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

-winning science journalist for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'') to their global political implications in the present day.https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/pbs-special-bomb-seeks-story-atomic-weapons-32720033 The two-hour PBS film was written and directed by Rushmore DeNooyer, who noted the project took a year and a half to complete, since much of the film footage and images was only recently

declassified Declassification is the process of ceasing a protective classification, often under the principle of freedom of information. Procedures for declassification vary by country. Papers may be withheld without being classified as secret, and event ...

by the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

. According to DeNooyer, “It wouldn’t take very many

bombs A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanic ...

to really change life on Earth, ... The idea that there are thousands of them sitting around is pretty scary. I don’t think people today realize that. They don’t think about it. I don’t think they are scared. But in a way, they should be.” Mark Dawidziak, of the ''

Cleveland Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of M ...

'', summarized the film as follows: "''The Bomb'' moves swiftly to cover

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui ...

and

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

, the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

, the

arms race An arms race occurs when two or more groups compete in military superiority. It consists of a competition between two or more states to have superior armed forces; a competition concerning production of weapons, the growth of a military, and ...

, the

Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...

, the

witch hunt A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern perio ...

, the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

, test-ban treaties, the "Star Wars" initiative, the anti-nuke movement, the

collapse of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

and the rise of new nuclear threats." According to

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

Richard Rhodes Richard Lee Rhodes (born July 4, 1937) is an American historian, journalist, and author of both fiction and non-fiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning ''The Making of the Atomic Bomb'' (1986), and most recently, ''Energy: A Human Histor ...

, “The

invention An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

f 'The Bomb'was a millennial change in

human history Human history, also called world history, is the narrative of humanity's past. It is understood and studied through anthropology, archaeology, genetics, and linguistics. Since the invention of writing, human history has been studied thro ...

: for the first time, we were now capable of our own destruction, as a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

.”

Participants

The documentary film is narrated by Jonathan Adams and includes the following participants (alphabetized by last name): * Jonathan Adams (

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

) * John Andersen (former Nuclear Weapons Engineer) * Hal Behl (

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...

;

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

) *

Walter J. Boyne Walter J. Boyne (February 2, 1929 – January 9, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, Command Pilot, combat veteran, aviation historian, and author of more than 50 books and over 1,000 magazine articles. He was a director of the National A ...

(former U.S. Strategic Air Command pilot) * Alan Carr (

; ''The Forgotten Physicist'') * Lynn Eden (historian; ''Whole World on Fire'') * John Hopkins (former Director, Nuclear Weapons Program) * Lilli Hornig (

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

;

) *

Sergei Khrushchev Sergei Nikitich Khrushchev (russian: Сергей Никитич Хрущёв; 2 July 1935 – 18 June 2020) was a Russian engineer and the second son of the Cold War-era Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev with his wife Nina Petrovna Khrushcheva. ...

(historian; ''Khrushchev in Power'') *

Amy Knight Amy W. Knight (born July 10, 1946) is an American historian of the Soviet Union and Russia. She has been described by ''The New York Times'' as "the West's foremost scholar" of the KGB. Life and career Amy Knight was born in Chicago in 1946. Sh ...

(historian; ''How The Cold War Began'') * Charles Loeber (former Nuclear Weapons Engineer) * Elaine Tyler May (historian; ''Homeward Bound'') * Glen McDuff (former Nuclear Weapons Engineer) * Laura McEnaney (historian; ''Civil Defense Begins at Home'') * Robert Norris (historian; ''Racing for the Bomb'') *

William Perry William Perry may refer to: Business * William Perry (Queensland businessman) (1835–1891), businessman and politician in Queensland, Australia * William H. Perry (businessman) (1832–1906), American businessman and entrepreneur Politics an ...

(former U.S. Secretary of Defense) * Roger Rasmussen (retired U.S. Army engineer; Trinity witness) *

(historian; ''

The Making of the Atomic Bomb ''The Making of the Atomic Bomb'' is a contemporary history book written by the American journalist and historian Richard Rhodes, first published by Simon & Schuster in 1987. It won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, the National Book ...

'') * Svetlana Savranskaya (historian; ''The Soviet Cuban Missile Crisis'') * Martin Sherwin (historian; ''

American Prometheus ''American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer'' is a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Twenty-five years in the making, the book was published in 2005 and was awarded the 2006 Pulitz ...

'') *

George Shultz George Pratt Shultz (; December 13, 1920February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat and statesman. He served in various positions under two different Republican presidents and is one of the only two persons to have held fo ...

(former

U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

) * Lester Tenney (American POW) * Jonathan M. Weisgall (author; ''Operation Crossroads'')

Gallery

Image:Walter Boyne B47 Pilot.jpg,

(former U.S. Strategic Air Command pilot) Image:Sergei Chruschtschow 2010.jpg,

(

) Image:William J Perry cr 2015.jpg,

(former U.S. Secretary of Defense) Image:Richard Rhodes.jpg,

(

) Image:George Pratt Shultz.jpg,

(former

)

Reviews and criticism

-winning

American conservative Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conser ...

journalist and commentator

Dorothy Rabinowitz Dorothy Rabinowitz is a Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist and commentator. She was born in New York City, and attained a bachelor's degree at Queens College. She worked toward a doctorate at New York University from 1957 to 1960, but did ...

, of the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

, writes, "

Documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

commemorating the atomic bomb’s first use are rarely deficient in drama, and this overstuffed yet altogether gripping work is no exception. Its assortment of uninhibitedly blunt commentators doesn’t hurt either." According to David Hinckley of the Daily News, "...some of the most powerful moments

f the film F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

focus on people, not technology." Robert Lloyd of the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

noted, "...much of this tale, as accidental as it also feels inevitable, is one of individual egos warping history, of scientists at war with politicians, of evil scientists at war with good ones, of wounded bureaucrats out for revenge." Verne Gay of

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

concludes, "''The Bomb'' is a decent overview but with insufficient analysis or perspective ..." Mark Dawidziak, of the ''Cleveland Plain Dealer'', reports, " he film ispart history lesson, part science class, part sociological study, part political thriller and part cautionary tale ... "

Neil Genzlinger Neil Genzlinger is an American playwright, editor, book reviewer, and theatre and television critic who frequently writes for ''The New York Times''. Family Genzlinger is a grandson of the late '' The Philadelphia Bulletin'' columnist Don Rose. ...

of the

observes, "The arms race is dutifully chronicled and the anti-nuke movement too, but only in its final minutes does the program get around to noting that nuclear bombs are still with us and that countries other than the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

have them. There’s a brief suggestion that if

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

ever go at it the whole world will suffer from

collateral damage Collateral damage is any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an incidental result of an activity. Originally coined by military operations, it is now also used in non-military contexts. Since the development of precision guided ...

, but the thought doesn’t linger. It’s as if ''The Bomb'' doesn’t want to intrude on the present by reminding us that the genie released 70 years ago August_6,_1945.html" ;"title="Little_Boy.html" ;"title="n Little Boy">August 6, 1945">Little_Boy.html" ;"title="n Little Boy">August 6, 1945is still at large."

Related films

In the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, the experimental 2016 film ''the bomb'' by Kevin Ford, Smriti Keshari and Eric Schlosser was premiered. It featured archive footage about the atomic bomb along live music by The Acid.

References

External links

* at th
PBS WebSite/1
* at th
PBS WebSite/2
* . * *

Peace Museums A peace museum is a museum that documents historical peace initiatives. Many peace museums also provide advocacy programs for nonviolent conflict resolution. This may include conflicts at the personal, regional or international level. Peace m ...

Hiroshima

Federation of American Scientists - Worldwide Nuclear Forces Guide

Video (14:25) - Time-Lapse Map of All 2053 Nuclear Explosions on Planet Earth (7 Countries, 1945 - 1998)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bomb 2015 television films 2015 films 2015 documentary films Documentary films about nuclear war and weapons Documentary films about United States history American documentary television films Films set in the United States Films shot in the United States 2010s American films

Participants

Gallery

Reviews and criticism

Related films

See also

References

External links