Overview

An unflinching examination of the moral and professional dilemmas faced by physicians who took part in the Manhattan Project. After his father died, James L. Nolan, Jr., took possession of a box of private family materials. To his surprise, the small secret archive contained a treasure trove of information about his grandfather's role as a doctor in the Manhattan Project. Dr. Nolan, it turned out, had been a significant figure. A talented ob-gyn radiologist, he cared for the scientists on the project, organized safety and evacuation plans for the Trinity test at Alamogordo, escorted the ""Little Boy"" bomb from Los Alamos to the Pacific Islands, and was one of the first Americans to enter the irradiated ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Participation on the project challenged Dr. Nolan's instincts as a healer. He and his medical colleagues were often conflicted, torn between their duty and desire to win the war and their oaths to protect life. Atomic Doctors follows these physicians as they sought to maximize the health and safety of those exposed to nuclear radiation, all the while serving leaders determined to minimize delays and maintain secrecy. Called upon both to guard against the harmful effects of radiation and to downplay its hazards, doctors struggled with the ethics of ending the deadliest of all wars using the most lethal of all weapons. Their work became a very human drama of ideals, co-optation, and complicity. A vital and vivid account of a largely unknown chapter in atomic history, Atomic Doctors is a profound meditation on the moral dilemmas that ordinary people face in extraordinary times.

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9780674248632

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Reviews

A disturbing account of the early years of the atomic bomb, when safety took second place to winning World War II...Haunting...A solid narrative of America's painful introduction to atomic radiation.--Kirkus Reviews (06/15/2020) This fine-grained and lucidly written account illuminates a little-known aspect of America's nuclear history.--Publishers Weekly (05/20/2020) Fascinating and disturbing, Atomic Doctors provides a behind-the-scenes view of the birth of the bomb. It's a crucial addition to the literature of the atomic age. It also raises essential questions about science, society, and the moral compromises made in their service.--Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction What did it mean to have a calling as a physician in the making and use of the atomic bomb at the dawn of the nuclear age? James Nolan tells a riveting story of his grandfather and other physicians associated with the Manhattan Project, all of whom were faced with determining their allegiance to the Hippocratic ideal of primum non nocere (first, do no harm) while interacting with both scientists and soldiers intent on creating an atomic weapon that they believed would end the war. Nolan's historical account is also a brilliant sociological assessment of the abiding tensions among these very different constituencies and of a cultural belief in the blessings of technology that continue to define modern life and its discontents.--Jonathan B. Imber, author of Trusting Doctors Through a many-layered story of people making momentous decisions under the most trying of circumstances, James Nolan plumbs deep questions about science and technology, medicine and war. Atomic Doctors is a special achievement--an important work of scholarship that is also a gripping and moving read.--Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows and The Glass Cage James Nolan combines a compelling narrative of his grandfather's experiences on the Manhattan Project with illuminating history and a morally sensitive account of medical dilemmas at a time of national crisis. Atomic Doctors is a profound and important book.--Mary Ann Glendon, author of The Forum and the Tower

What did it mean to have a calling as a physician in the making and use of the atomic bomb at the dawn of the nuclear age? James Nolan tells a riveting story of his grandfather and other physicians associated with the Manhattan Project, all of whom were faced with determining their allegiance to the Hippocratic ideal of primum non nocere (First, do no harm) while interacting with both scientists and soldiers intent on creating an atomic weapon that they believed would end the war. Nolan's historical account is also a brilliant sociological assessment of the abiding tensions among these very different constituencies and of a cultural belief in the blessings of technology that continue to define modern life and its discontents.--Jonathan B. Imber, Wellesley College Through a many-layered story of people making momentous decisions under the most trying of circumstances, Jim Nolan plumbs deep questions about science and technology, medicine and war. Atomic Doctors is a special achievement--an important work of scholarship that is also a gripping and moving read.--Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows and The Glass Cage

Usually histories of the nuclear project at Los Alamos, N.M., during World War II dwell on tensions between the military officers overseeing the project and the physicists doing the necessary research. In this striking study, James L. Nolan Jr. looks at the disquieting participation of members of a third profession, medicine...[A] powerful and readable book. -- Thomas E. Ricks * New York Times Book Review * An admirable account of the central role of physicians in the Manhattan Project and its aftermath...Nolan's skillful weaving of his grandfather's story into an account of the pressures exerted on medical ethics by time, place, and circumstance makes for compelling reading. -- Jonathan D. Moreno * American Scientist * Through a many-layered story of people making momentous decisions under the most trying of circumstances, James Nolan plumbs deep questions about science and technology, medicine and war. Atomic Doctors is a special achievement-an important work of scholarship that is also a gripping and moving read. -- Nicholas Carr, author of <i>The Shallows</i> and <i>The Glass Cage</i> Fascinating and disturbing, Atomic Doctors provides a behind-the-scenes view of the birth of the bomb. It's a crucial addition to the literature of the atomic age. It also raises essential questions about science, society, and the moral compromises made in their service. -- Elizabeth Kolbert, author of <i>The Sixth Extinction</i> James Nolan combines a compelling narrative of his grandfather's experiences on the Manhattan Project with illuminating history and a morally sensitive account of medical dilemmas at a time of national crisis. Atomic Doctors is a profound and important book. -- Mary Ann Glendon, author of <i>The Forum and the Tower</i> What did it mean to have a calling as a physician in the making and use of the atomic bomb at the dawn of the nuclear age? James Nolan tells a riveting story of his grandfather and other physicians associated with the Manhattan Project, all of whom were faced with determining their allegiance to the Hippocratic ideal of primum non nocere (first, do no harm) while interacting with both scientists and soldiers intent on creating an atomic weapon that they believed would end the war. Nolan's historical account is also a brilliant sociological assessment of the abiding tensions among these very different constituencies and of a cultural belief in the blessings of technology that continue to define modern life and its discontents. -- Jonathan B. Imber, author of <i>Trusting Doctors</i> Describe[s] how American doctors became connected to troubling events during World War II that raised thorny moral issues around medicine and war. -- Lawrence D. Freedman * Foreign Affairs * A disturbing account of the early years of the atomic bomb, when safety took second place to winning World War II...Haunting...A solid narrative of America's painful introduction to atomic radiation. * Kirkus Reviews * This fine-grained and lucidly written account illuminates a little-known aspect of America's nuclear history. * Publishers Weekly * James L. Nolan's Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age focuses on the role of his grandfather James F. Nolan (1915-83) as a research physician in the unfolding drama of developing a nuclear bomb...[Nolan] clarifies important historical facts and opens an interdisciplinary academic discourse about the role of nuclear technology in American society. This approach makes the meticulously researched publication, perfectly placed seventy-five years after the Trinity test, a very readable book, despite its tragic subject. It gives a truthful insight into the complexity of a physician's conscience and complicity at the dawn of the nuclear age. -- Eva Castringius * H-Net Reviews * Nolan's Atomic Doctors is a splendid, valuable, and necessary book. -- Leo van Bergen * Medicine, Conflict and Survival * That the military acted to deal with the medical concerns about radiation only when faced with legal pressure or loss of face is also an all too modern concept for not just the military but society...There is much for a reader to take away from the book regarding history and ethics. -- Lt. Col. Scott C. Martin, USAF * Air & Space Power Journal * As the grandson of the protagonist of the book, James L. Nolan, Jr. crafts a stunning narrative, in which personal accounts and family experiences are successfully amalgamated with academic rigor, situated within a large historical framework...Offer[s] counter-narratives that shed new insight into the dominant narrative of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -- Yuki Miyamoto * Western Historical Quarterly * Provides valuable historical background on the longstanding efforts to protect human health and the environment and understand the effects of radiation exposure...A must-read for anyone interested in understanding the history of nuclear research, weapons development and testing. -- Eric Boyle, Office of Legacy Management, US Department of Energy Illuminates how Dr. Nolan at Los Alamos and two physician colleagues, Louis Hempelmann and Stafford Warren, dealt with the frightening human effects of nuclear radiation from the bomb. Combining an effective analysis of their efforts with a compelling telling of Dr. Nolan's own story, the book enlarges America's atomic bomb experience as a case study of truly disruptive technology in war and society. -- Sidney Perkowitz * Science Sketches * Carefully researched and engagingly written...As Nolan concludes, the willingness of health professionals-including physicians-to do the military's bidding, and to condone experiments that were 'technically sweet' but ethically dubious, means that 'the long shadow of the Manhattan Project...is still with us. -- Gregg Herken * California History *

This fine-grained and lucidly written account illuminates a little-known aspect of America's nuclear history. * Publishers Weekly * A disturbing account of the early years of the atomic bomb, when safety took second place to winning World War II...Haunting...A solid narrative of America's painful introduction to atomic radiation. * Kirkus Reviews * What did it mean to have a calling as a physician in the making and use of the atomic bomb at the dawn of the nuclear age? James Nolan tells a riveting story of his grandfather and other physicians associated with the Manhattan Project, all of whom were faced with determining their allegiance to the Hippocratic ideal of primum non nocere (first, do no harm) while interacting with both scientists and soldiers intent on creating an atomic weapon that they believed would end the war. Nolan's historical account is also a brilliant sociological assessment of the abiding tensions among these very different constituencies and of a cultural belief in the blessings of technology that continue to define modern life and its discontents. -- Jonathan B. Imber, author of <i>Trusting Doctors</i> James Nolan combines a compelling narrative of his grandfather's experiences on the Manhattan Project with illuminating history and a morally sensitive account of medical dilemmas at a time of national crisis. Atomic Doctors is a profound and important book. -- Mary Ann Glendon, author of <i>The Forum and the Tower</i> Fascinating and disturbing, Atomic Doctors provides a behind-the-scenes view of the birth of the bomb. It's a crucial addition to the literature of the atomic age. It also raises essential questions about science, society, and the moral compromises made in their service. -- Elizabeth Kolbert, author of <i>The Sixth Extinction</i> Through a many-layered story of people making momentous decisions under the most trying of circumstances, James Nolan plumbs deep questions about science and technology, medicine and war. Atomic Doctors is a special achievement-an important work of scholarship that is also a gripping and moving read. -- Nicholas Carr, author of <i>The Shallows</i> and <i>The Glass Cage</i>

Author Information

James L. Nolan, Jr., is Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College. His previous books include What They Saw in America: Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, G. K. Chesterton, and Sayyid Qutb and Reinventing Justice: The American Drug Court Movement.

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