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Book Review
Comparative/World
| Lawrence S. Wittner. The Struggle Against the Bomb. Volume 3, A History of the World Disarmament Movement, 1971 to the Present. (Stanford Nuclear Age Series.) Stanford: Stanford University Press. 2003. Pp. xiv, 657. $29.95.
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| This is the third volume in a trilogy by Lawrence S. Wittner entitled The Struggle Against the Bomb, the first comprehensive account of the worldwide nuclear disarmament movement. The first volume in the trilogy covered the period to 1953; the second volume spanned the years 1954–1970. This well-written concluding volume is an excellent example of multinational history. Relying heavily on government documents, the records and literature of the peace movement, and a plethora of memoirs, monographs, and personal interviews, Wittner provides a solid foundation for his vivid panorama of the global antinuclear campaign and the forces, personalities, and events that shaped it. |
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Wittner's main thesis is that the revival of the antinuclear-weapon movement during the 1970s and 1980s was the primary reason for the winding down of the nuclear arms race during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Obviously, some would consider this a debatable proposition. Yet Wittner makes a strong case to support his thesis. As he correctly points out, none of the administrations that he examines in this volume—with the notable exception of Jimmy Carter's—had any intention of adopting nuclear arms reduction policies when they entered office. Instead, Wittner asserts, they grudgingly accepted such policies because of popular pressure. |
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