Missile envy

ISBN: 9780553193848

出版年: 1986-1

页数: 346

定价: 51.00

内容简介

Introduction
I write this book with a tremen-
dous sense of urgency--as a mother??? as a pediatrician??? and as a
woman--aware that we live on a planet that is terminally ill???
infected with lethal macrobes (nuclear weapons) that are metas-
taslzing rapidly??? the way a cancer spreads in the body. I have been
concerned about nuclear war since I was a young teenager??? when I
read Nevil Shute s book On the Beach. I lived then in Melbourne???
Australia??? the scene of the story??? and the image of the people of
Melbourne giving cyanide to their babies as the radioactive fallout
was about to strike has stayed with me all my life. The empty streets
of ray beloved city??? bereft of life??? with newspapers blowing vacantly
in the wind??? signaled the end of human existence.
Since that time??? I have never felt protected by the adults
around me and have never understood why the governments of the
world build more nuclear weapons. When I started my first year of
medical studios in 1956??? at the age of seventeen??? 1 was prompted to
speak out about the carcinogenic and mutagenic effects of radioac-
tive fallout from the atmospheric explosions detonated by the
Soviet Union??? the United States??? and Great Britain. Unfortunate-
[y??? I spoke In the refectory at lunchtime??? and my male medical
r??? ollel~guos gazed absentmlndedly at me??? obviously wondering who
d~ls crazy lady was) as they ignored my comments and continued
their pQker game. During the remaining years of medical school??? 1
manttged to suppress my fear and practice a degree of denial--
psi chic numbing??? It wasn t until 1963??? when I was three months