ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains that the atomic bomb generated a kaleidoscopic variety of consequences for post-war politics, thought and culture. As an exogenous shock arriving in the summer of 1945, it produced a great sense of relief in the United States that World War II ended without an invasion of Japan and additional military casualties. At the same time, however, it also contributed to an existing sense of outrage produced by total warfare and the Holocaust, those unequivocal demonstrations of the darkest side of Western civilization. After World War II, Russell gradually became embroiled in a series of public campaigns, centred on the new menace of nuclear weapons technology, that came to define his legacy as a social critic and political thinker, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the Committee of 100 and the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation.
