It seems to have been the proximity of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to the University of Tennessee that sparked the notion of holding a conference about the atomic bomb. Historians, veterans who took part in the project in some manner or another, social scientists, and scholars of literature and popular culture explore how the bomb shaped the US military and diplomatic perceptions, and how popular American attitudes about the bomb have been influenced by events and persuasion since then. The topics include local press response to the atomic bomb announcements in August and September 1945, defending the American Way and containing the atom, life and culture aboard US Navy nuclear submarines during the Cold War, popular representations of some early Cold War American nuclear weapons, and challenges of preserving America's nuclear weapons complex. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)