Face to Face with the Bomb: Nuclear Reality after the Cold War

by Paul Shambroom

"Here in Paul Shambroom's remarkable photographs are the machines we have built at great expense to destroy millions of human lives... and the men and women whose professional duty it is to maintain them until we learn the deep lesson that the discovery of how to release nuclear energy revealed a natural limit to the scale of human conflict." -- from the Introduction by Richard Rhodes Although the Cold War ended more than ten years ago, the nuclear dimensions of that conflict remain ever present. The United States alone maintains a nuclear force of over 10,000 warheads; the world's other nuclear powers may possess as many as 20,000 more. Further, the atomic aspirations of such states as Iraq and North Korea continue to spark international crises, while in the wake of September 11, the possibility that terrorists might obtain and use weapons of mass destruction has become frighteningly plausible. For most people, however, nuclear weapons -- whether viewed as a dangerous threat or an effective deterrent -- exist only in the abstract. In Face to Face with the Bomb, photographer Paul Shambroom documents the components of America's nuclear arsenal, and through his series of striking images which depict the devices and their day-to-day maintenance, he the makes clear the magnitude of the nuclear reality we have created. Taken between 1992 and 2001 at military bases in the United States and the South Pacific, these photographs offer an unprecedented inside look at the missiles, warheads, bombers, submarines, and command centers that make up the far-flung nuclear infrastructure of the United States. Shambroom's full-color prints depict both historic, Cold War--era weaponry shortly before it was mothballed and new warhead designs and missile defense prototypes that may be deployed well into the twenty-first century. Face to the Face with the Bomb also features an introductory essay by Pulitzer Prize--winning historian Richard Rhodes, who places Shambroom's photographs within the context of the arms race with the Soviet Union, and a prologue by Shambroom, in which he discusses his experiences visiting the country's top-secret nuclear installations. Visually arresting and chillingly matter-of-fact, this volume provides a lasting document of one of the most uncertain, dangerous periods in human history.

Genres: Photography, Art

144 pages, Hardcover

First published April 17, 2003

Reviews

[Robu-sensei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Face to Face with the Bomb is a stunning pictorial documentary of America's nuclear weapons, their delivery systems and the command and detection systems that control them. Over a full decade, photographer Paul Shambroom negotiated with military authorities to gain access to US airfields, submarine bases, missile silos and command centers to compile this surprisingly revealing view. Shambroom is neither a critic or advocate of nuclear weapons: he was driven by the desire to "halp people believe that they are real, and to help people see through the abstract haze of policy debate and think about them in concrete terms." This book is a visually arresting and informative look into the American nuclear arsenal.