Doomsday Machines

A long look at a QUICK STRIKE

The grim realities of a faux nuclear war plan from 1958

17 hrs ago • Alex Wellerstein

29

10

4

"Civil defense should include spiritual civil defense"

The role of religious organizations in preparing for and recovering from nuclear war, 1951-1956

Apr 4 • Alex Wellerstein

29

4

3

March 2026

Forgetting the bomb

Can nuclear weapons be un-invented?

Mar 27 • Alex Wellerstein

52

24

5

The clouds of Hiroshima

A look at what few photographs we have of the mushroom and smoke clouds from the first atomic bombing

Mar 21 • Alex Wellerstein

64

6

8

How I destroyed the world

A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of "PLAN A" (2017)

Mar 12 • Alex Wellerstein

38

6

3

"It is obvious that the immediate destruction of the complete list of 66 cities would have an even more devastating effect on Russia"

The earliest postwar American planning for waging a full-scale nuclear war from 1945

Mar 6 • Alex Wellerstein

40

2

5

February 2026

Cutting the head off the Soviet chicken

"By Dawn's Early Light" (1990): a contrived, late-Cold War, made-for-TV nuclear thriller

Feb 27 • Alex Wellerstein

30

9

1

"Launching missiles is your job."

The sublime banality of Frederick Wiseman's "Missile" (1988)

Feb 20 • Alex Wellerstein

46

6

3

Hitting the jackpot

William Gibson's disturbingly plausible 21st-century slow disaster

Feb 13 • Alex Wellerstein

43

11

7

Bananas for BRAVO

An early attempt to visualize the broader implications of thermonuclear war

Feb 6 • Alex Wellerstein

40

3

2

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

49

12

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

42

7

7