Hope in Hard Times: America's Peace Movement and the Reagan Era

Book by Loeb, Paul Rogat

Loeb, author of Nuclear Culture, measures the growth of the peace (or anti-nuclear) movement by examining the lives and actions of ordinary citizens who have made this cause their own. The finely limned subjects range from plucky octogenarians to bold housewives and outspoken preachers, and offer evidence of broad, diverse activism. Loeb maintains that this anti-nuke populism has led to an "engagement with ultimate issues," making activists distrust experts and the "atomic priesthood," feel apprehension about the growing military budget and resist fatalistic cynicism. Loeb also rebuts the charge that the U.S. peace movement is an unwitting tool of the Soviets, and he argues against the militarization of the planet and the ideological polarities between East and West. Except for occasional glibness (such as drawing analogies between nuclear reactors and Auschwitz), this is a solid, if partisan, examination of the anti-nuclear phenomenon.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A writer and peace activist, Loeb has assembled a most interesting and instructive examination of the world of the modern American peace movement. From his travels through the country, he has developed an engrossing series of essays on such people as anti-nuclear power activists in South Carolina, nuclear freeze proponents in southern California, and Trident submarine protesters in Seattle. Loeb's writings not only are highly personal inquiries into the private worlds of his subjects; they also provide intellectually stimulating ruminations on the social and psychological barriers that prevent most people from coming to terms with The Bomb. Anyone interested in the workings of modern-day U.S. citizen peace activism will find value in this work. Charles DeBenedetti, History Dept., Univ. of Toledo
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.