Doomsday Machines

Bananas for BRAVO

An early attempt to visualize the broader implications of thermonuclear war

Feb 6 • Alex Wellerstein

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4

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January 2026

"Take me to your shelter, leader!"

Do you have what it takes to be a shelter manager after World War III breaks out? Take this quiz from 1973 and find out!

Jan 29 • Alex Wellerstein

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11

1

Playing at the End of the World

An interview with historian and game designer Malcolm Craig about post-apocalyptic tabletop role playing games in the Cold War

Jan 22 • Alex Wellerstein

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7

7

You too can survive a nuclear war — if you have a flying car

The essential contradictions of Dean Ing’s Survivalist novel “Pulling Through” (1983)

Jan 13 • Alex Wellerstein

35

15

2

"Zero time was speeding toward me like a car you cannot dodge"

A gripping first-hand account of a nuclear test from 1957

Jan 1 • Alex Wellerstein

60

7

5

December 2025

Christmas at Ground Zero

Weird Al Yankovic's post-apocalyptic carol (1986)

Dec 25, 2025 • Alex Wellerstein

35

6

2

Will the survivors envy the dead?

Tracing the origins of a popular trope about nuclear war

Dec 19, 2025 • Alex Wellerstein

30

6

2

Working at Cold War Los Alamos

A conversation with the chemist Cheryl Rofer about her over thirty year career at Los Alamos

Dec 12, 2025 • Alex Wellerstein

61

3

2

"The Most Awful Responsibility"

My new book on Truman and the bomb will be released on December 9!

Dec 4, 2025 • Alex Wellerstein

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11

8

November 2025

“Mars is signaling a dark star”

A vision of "The End of the World" from the beginning of the 20th century

Nov 28, 2025 • Alex Wellerstein

38

8

2

"Nuclear weapons repel all thought, perhaps because they can end all thought"

Martin Amis on the difficulties of writing about nuclear war

Nov 14, 2025 • Alex Wellerstein

53

5

6

Bolt out of the blue

Kathryn Bigelow's "A House of Dynamite"

Nov 7, 2025 • Alex Wellerstein

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20

6