Main description:

1. The book includes extensive context about the historical and newsworthy events that surround nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants in correlation to the plays analyzed.

2. The critically acclaimed HBO series Chernobyl is explored in chapter three and evaluated for the feeling of doom it creates for an audience watching.

3. The book makes comparisons of the pandemic to nuclear science history, acknowledging that culturally we do not always listen to scientific advice, and assessing how powerful governments often dismiss scientific dissent.

Contents:

Acknowledgements

Introduction: The Nuclear Stage

0.1 Seeing Science as a Part of Culture, Us, and I

0.2 Using Phenomenology

0.3 History in the Making

Chapter One: A Matter of Time

Copenhagen's Uncertainty of Time and Truth

Time Off Stage, Time On Stage

Exploring Nuclear Science Museums: Timelines, Space, and Place

Conclusion: A Tense Time

Chapter Two: The Power of a Human

2.1 In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Scientist on Trial

2.2 Embodiment on Stage and of History

2.3 Reykjavik and the Negotiations for all Humankind

2.4 Conclusion: Human Perspective

Chapter Three: Doomful Disaster and Responsibility

3.1 The Children and the Question of Guilt

3.2 The Phenomenology of Doom on Stage and Ethical Responses

3.3 Illuminating Invisible Dangers and Deciding Responsibility in Chernobyl

3.4 Conclusion: Power Problems

Chapter Four: The Limits of Reason

4.1 End of the World and Logical Loopholes

4.2 The Impossible Humor of Nuclear Weapons

4.3 The Physicists and Sensible Absurdity

4.4 Conclusion: The Last Laugh

Chapter Five: Future Imaginings

5.1 Possibilities on Stage: Three Plays that Look Ahead

5.2 Visions of the Future on Stage

5.3 Conclusion: Tethered to the Future

Conclusion: An Ending Untold

Index