By Bulletin Staff, May 25, 2016
On Friday, May 27, President Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, site of the first atomic bomb detonation in history. Amid the debate over the visit—will he or won’t he go; will he or won’t he meet with the Hibakusha; will he or won’t he apologize—it is clear that his visit is a monumentally historic event that will force the world to consider again the destructive consequences of nuclear weapons.
Below, we’ve assembled a reading list on the subject of the only uses of nuclear weapons in history, and what this visit by President Obama means to people in the U.S., Japan, and around the world. To help tackle the big questions raised, we are highlighting some of our best and most recent analysis.
What President Obama should say at Hiroshima, by Hugh Gusterson
Let Hiroshima guide us back to nuclear basics, by Kennette Benedict
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Lessons learned?Development and Disarmament Roundtable
Where will the next president stand on nuclear weapons?by Rachel Whitlark
Hiroshima and the Iran agreement, by Rachel Bronson
Can Japan become a bridge-builder for nuclear disarmament?by Masako Toki
The weight of a butterfly, by Emily Strasser
At Hiroshima, lay plans for a nuclear-weapon-free world, by Kennette Benedict
The harrowing story of the Nagasaki bombing mission, by Ellen Bradbury and Sandra Blakeslee
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The many retrospectives, by Dan Drollette
A picture's power to prevent, by Seth Baum
Comics, graphic novels, and the nuclear age, by Ariane Tabatabai
Nuclear Notebook Interactive: Our infographic of the world's nuclear arsenal
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