Bracing for Armageddon: Why Civil Defense Never Worked

In Bracing for Armageddon, Dee Garrison pulls back the curtain on the U.S. government's civil defense plans from World War II through the end of the Cold War. Based on government documents, peace organizations, personal papers, scientific reports, oral histories, newspapers, and popular media, her book chronicles the operations of the various federal and state civil defense programs from 1945 to contemporary issues of homeland security, as well as the origins and development of the massive public protest against civil defense from 1955 through the 1980s. At a time of increasing preoccupation over national security issues, Bracing for Armageddon sheds light on the growing distrust between the U.S. government and its subjects in postwar America.

About the Author :
Dee Garrison is a Professor of History Emeritus at Rutgers University who specializes in the history of American social movements, gender history, and peace history.

Review :
"Well researched and convincingly argued. Moving from the later 1940s to the post-9/11 era, this book effectively links civil defense to larger issues of U.S. nuclear strategy and illuminates how seemingly marginal oppositional movements can cumulatively influence the course of events. While documenting the more absurd aspects of civil defense propaganda, Garrison does not settle for easy ridicule but approaches the topic with the moral seriousness it deserves."--Paul Boyer, author of By the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age "Garrison offers a superb introduction to the antinuclear movement....Bracing for Armageddon is an excellent book on a topic only increasing in relevance."--Andrew J. Falk, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society "Those interested in the history of the Cold War, the anti-nuclear movement, and how the construction of the military-industrial complex impacted on the lives of ordinary Americans cannot afford to miss this volume."--Wendy E. Chmielewski, Curator, Swarthmore College and past president of the Peace History Society "Historian Dee Garrison's latest work turns the timely issue of civil defense on its head. This is a most relevant, enlightening, and sometimes scary read."--Harriet Hyman Alonso, author of Peace as a Women's Issue "Could not be more timely. Russia and the US still target each other with over 2500 hydrogen bombs on hair-trigger alert, and nuclear war, despite the absence of overt hostilities, could break out at any moment, obliterating much of the planet. Read this book and wake up!"--Helen Caldicott MD "A marvelous book, rich in detail and insight. It reminds us not only of our rulers' bizarre preparations for nuclear war, but of the many courageous people who stood up and successfully resisted them."--Lawrence S. Wittner, author of The Struggle Against the Bomb