Nuclear Legacies: Communication, Controversy, and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex

by Bryan C. Taylor, William J. Kinsella, Stephen P. Depoe professor and head, Department of Communication, University of Cincinnati, Maribeth S. Metzler, Jennifer Duffield Hamilton

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739119051
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	04/29/2008
Series:	Lexington Studies in Political Communication
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Bryan C. Taylor is associate professor of communication at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Stephen P. Depoe is associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Cincinnati, where he also directs the Center for Health and Environmental Communication Research. William J. Kinsella is a faculty member in the Department of Communication and the interdisciplinary program in Science, Technology, and Society at North Carolina State University. Maribeth S. Metzler is associate professor and director of the public relations program at the University of Cincinnati.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: Linking Nuclear Legacies and Communication Studies
Part 2 The Discourse of Officials and Stakeholders of Nuclear Weapons Production
Chapter 3 Convergence and Divergence in the Public Dialogue on Nuclear Weapons Cleanup
Chapter 4 Becoming Hanford Downwinders: Producing Community and Challenging Discursive Containment
Chapter 5 Regional Communication and Sense of Place Surrounding the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Part 6 Organizing the Past, Present, and Future of Nuclear Weapons Production
Chapter 7 Cold War Triumphant: The Rhetorical Uses of History, Memory, and Heritage Preservation within the Department of Energy's Nuclear Weapons Complex
Chapter 8 TRUTH is Generated HERE: Knowledge Loss and the Production of Nuclear Confidence in the Post-Cold War Era
Chapter 9 (Forever) At Work in the Fields of the Bomb: Images of Long Term Stewardship in Post-Cold War Nuclear Discourse
Part 10 Critical Response
Chapter 11 Response: Nuclear Legacies and Opportunities for Politically and Ethically Engaged Communication Scholarship

Editorial Reviews

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

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

From the Publisher

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