Nuclear rites : a weapons laboratory at the end of the Cold War /
Hugh Gusterson.
- Berkeley : University of California Press, c1996.
- xviii, 351 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-344) and index.
Based on fieldwork at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - the facility that designed the neutron bomb and the warhead for the MX missile - Nuclear Rites takes the reader deep inside the top-secret culture of a nuclear weapons lab. Exploring the scientists' world of dark humor, ritualized secrecy, and disciplined emotions, anthropologist Gusterson uncovers the beliefs and values that animate their work. He discovers that many of the scientists are Christians, deeply convinced of the morality of their work. An unexpected number are also liberals who opposed the Vietnam War and the Reagan-Bush agenda. In a lively, wide-ranging account, Gusterson analyzes the ethics and politics of laboratory employees, the effects of security regulations on scientists' private lives, and the role of nuclear tests - beyond the obvious scientific one - as rituals of initiation and transcendence.
0520081471 9780520081475
96007234
GB97-53582
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory--Employees. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory--Personnel. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Etats-Unis).
Nuclear weapons--Research--Social aspects--California--Livermore. Antinuclear movement--Social aspects. Armes nucleaires--Recherche--Aspect social--Californie--Livermore. Mouvement antinuclâeaire--Aspect social. Armas nucleares--Investigaciones--Aspectos sociales--California Movimiento antinuclear--Aspectos sociales. Kernwapens. Laboratoriumonderzoek. Armes nuclâeaires--Recherche--Aspect social--âEtats-Unis. Mouvement antinucleaire--Aspect social. Energie nuclâeaire--Recherche--Aspect social--Etats-Unis--Californie--Californie.