OPPENHEIMER READING LIST

Books about or referencing all things nuclear: nuclear futures, nuclear waste, toxic environments—and Godzilla.

Atomic energy illustration in background. Text in fore: Nuclear Culture: An Oppenheimer Reading List.

OPPENHEIMER READING LIST

If you're looking forward to the summer 2023 film Oppenheimer as much as we are, you might be just as interested to browse this reading list comprising all things nuclear: nuclear futures, nuclear waste, toxic environments, risk, outcomes, hyperobjects—and Godzilla.

This collection is presented in excitement about the film Oppenheimer (summer 2023). Looking for something lighter but still aligned with July 21st film releases? We've got a Barbie-related collection, too.

BROWSE COLLECTION:

The Switch: An Off and On History of Digital Humans The Switch An Off and On History of Digital Humans Jason Puskar 2023 Fall
From the telegraph to the touchscreen, how the development of binary switching transformed everyday life and changed the shape of human agency
Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again Shigeru Kayama 2023 Fall
The first English translations of the original novellas about the iconic kaijū Godzilla
This Contested Land: The Storied Past and Uncertain Future of America’s National Monuments This Contested Land The Storied Past and Uncertain Future of America’s National Monuments McKenzie Long 2022 Spring
One woman’s enlightening trek through the natural histories, cultural stories, and present perils of thirteen national monuments, from Maine to Hawaii
Endlings: Fables for the Anthropocene Endlings Fables for the Anthropocene Lydia Pyne 2023 Spring
Amid the historical decimation of species around the globe, a new way into the language of loss
Tsuchi: Earthy Materials in Contemporary Japanese Art Tsuchi Earthy Materials in Contemporary Japanese Art Bert Winther-Tamaki 2022 Spring
An examination of Japanese contemporary art through the lens of ecocriticism and environmental history
Solarities: Seeking Energy Justice Solarities Seeking Energy Justice After Oil Collective Ayesha Vemuri and Darin Barney, Editors 2022 Fall
A collective engages and mirrors the critical need for energy justice and transformation
Calamity Theory: Three Critiques of Existential Risk Calamity Theory Three Critiques of Existential Risk Joshua Schuster and Derek Woods 2021 Fall
What are the implications of how we talk about apocalypse?
Nuclear Suburbs: Cold War Technoscience and the Pittsburgh Renaissance Nuclear Suburbs Cold War Technoscience and the Pittsburgh Renaissance Patrick Vitale 2021 Spring
From submarines to the suburbs—the remaking of Pittsburgh during the Cold War
Radioactive Ghosts Radioactive Ghosts Gabriele Schwab 2020 Fall
A pioneering examination of nuclear trauma, the continuing and new nuclear peril, and the subjectivities they generate
Infrastructures of Apocalypse: American Literature and the Nuclear Complex Infrastructures of Apocalypse American Literature and the Nuclear Complex Jessica Hurley 2020 Fall
A new approach to the vast nuclear infrastructure and the apocalypses it produces, focusing on Black, queer, Indigenous, and Asian American literatures
An Ecotopian Lexicon An Ecotopian Lexicon Matthew Schneider-Mayerson and Brent Ryan Bellamy, Editors 2019 Fall
Presents thirty novel terms that do not yet exist in English to envision ways of responding to the environmental challenges of our generation
Theory for the World to Come: Speculative Fiction and Apocalyptic Anthropology Theory for the World to Come Speculative Fiction and Apocalyptic Anthropology Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer 2019 Spring
Can social theories forge new paths into an uncertain future?
Cyberwar and Revolution: Digital Subterfuge in Global Capitalism Cyberwar and Revolution Digital Subterfuge in Global Capitalism Nick Dyer-Witheford and Svitlana Matviyenko 2019 Spring
Uncovering the class conflicts, geopolitical dynamics, and aggressive capitalism propelling the militarization of the internet
Anthropocene Poetics: Deep Time, Sacrifice Zones, and Extinction Anthropocene Poetics Deep Time, Sacrifice Zones, and Extinction David Farrier 2019 Spring
How poetry can help us think about and live in the Anthropocene by reframing our intimate relationship with geological time
After Extinction After Extinction Richard Grusin, Editor 2018 Spring
A multidisciplinary exploration of extinction and what comes next
The End of Man: A Feminist Counterapocalypse The End of Man A Feminist Counterapocalypse Joanna Zylinska 2018 Spring
Debugging the Anthropocene’s insistence on apocalyptic tropes
Veer Ecology: A Companion for Environmental Thinking Veer Ecology A Companion for Environmental Thinking Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and Lowell Duckert, Editors 2017 Fall
An innovative toolkit designed to prompt new awareness of the risk and potential of living on—and with—an alarmingly dynamic planet
Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Heather Anne Swanson, Elaine Gan and Nils Bubandt, Editors 2017 Spring
Can humans and other species continue to inhabit the earth together?
Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times Against Purity Living Ethically in Compromised Times Alexis Shotwell 2016 Fall
Why contamination and compromise might be a starting point for doing something, instead of a reason to give up
Exposed: Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times Exposed Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times Stacy Alaimo 2016 Fall
A bold call to approach environmentalism from the inside out
Mechademia 10: World Renewal Mechademia 10 World Renewal Frenchy Lunning, Editor 2015 Fall
The ongoing effects of 3/11 in Japan through anime and manga
Hope at Sea: Possible Ecologies in Oceanic Literature Hope at Sea Possible Ecologies in Oceanic Literature Teresa Shewry 2015 Fall
Hope is a lifeline running through the work of literary writers in and surrounding the Pacific Ocean
Wastelanding: Legacies of Uranium Mining in Navajo Country Wastelanding Legacies of Uranium Mining in Navajo Country Traci Brynne Voyles 2015 Spring
What is “wasteland,” and who gets to decide?
Stone: An Ecology of the Inhuman Stone An Ecology of the Inhuman Jeffrey Jerome Cohen 2015 Spring
A beautifully written account of stone’s intimacy to what it means to be human
Nuclear Desire: Power and the Postcolonial Nuclear Order Nuclear Desire Power and the Postcolonial Nuclear Order Shampa Biswas 2014 Fall
Argues that the nonproliferation regime helps sustain a global nuclear order that generates the desire for nuclear weapons
Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World Hyperobjects Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World Timothy Morton 2013 Fall
The world as we know it has already come to an end
Hot Spotter’s Report: Military Fables of Toxic Waste Hot Spotter’s Report Military Fables of Toxic Waste Shiloh R. Krupar 2013 Spring
How biopolitical militarism in the U.S. obscures the domestic remains of war
Island of the Doomed Island of the Doomed Stig Dagerman 2012 Spring
A haunting masterpiece of Scandinavian literature—now published for the first time in the United States
Gameplay Mode: War, Simulation, and Technoculture Gameplay Mode War, Simulation, and Technoculture Patrick Crogan 2011 Fall
Understanding the military logics that created and continue to inform computer games
Fallout Shelter: Designing for Civil Defense in the Cold War Fallout Shelter Designing for Civil Defense in the Cold War David Monteyne 2011 Spring
Tracing the partnership between architects and American civil defense officials during the Cold War
Signs of Danger: Waste, Trauma, and Nuclear Threat Signs of Danger Waste, Trauma, and Nuclear Threat Peter C. van Wyck 2004 Fall
Questions the literal burying of the nuclear threat and how it relates to expectations for our future
People of the Bomb: Portraits of America’s Nuclear Complex People of the Bomb Portraits of America’s Nuclear Complex Hugh Gusterson 2004 Spring
How the American military-industrial complex has invaded our consciousness to create consent for its programs