Product Description
Based on fieldwork at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory–the facility that designed the neutron bomb and the warhead for the MX missile–Nuclear Rites takes the reader deep inside the top-secret culture of a nuclear weapons lab. Exploring the scientists’ world of dark humor, ritualized secrecy, and disciplined emotions, anthropologist Hugh Gusterson uncovers the beliefs and values that animate their work. He discovers that many of the scientists are Christi… More >>
Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War
Tags: dark humor, lawrence livermore national, lawrence livermore national laboratory, livermore national laboratory, mx missile, neutron bomb, nuclear rites, nuclear weapons lab, secret culture, weapons laboratory
#1 by Anonymous on July 1, 2010 - 9:11 am
An anthropologist looks at a nuclear weapons plant. Instead of making an exotic culture familiar, Gusterson takes apart the social workings of Livermore. In doing so, he shows that scientists aren’t always rational, that there are elements of hazing rituals in an FBI background check, and that employees internalize their training to a fundamental level.
Intelligent, thorough, and an 8 out of 10 on the readability scale, this is a must for anyone skeptical that anything in the US is rational – least of all our nuclear weapons program. Five stars.
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by Anonymous on July 1, 2010 - 11:44 am
I have been working across the street from Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL) as an intern at Sandia National Labs, and picked this book up in Sandia’s library to get a better sense for the community around me.
The culture in a nuclear weapons lab is utterly unique. Coming from a background where most of my friends are against nuclear weapons, it is interesting to work among people who believe with their heart that what they’re doing is good for society.
Hugh Gusterson does a great job at documenting the culture of the LLNL and how it fits in with the culture of Livermore, CA, and how it clashes with the culture of anti-nuclear weapons activists. Gusterson’s objectivity is refreshing, and the material is fascinating.
If you’ve worked at a national lab, want to get into the minds of a nuclear weapons scientist, or just want to learn a bit about one of the US’s biggest national laboratories, I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Anonymous on July 1, 2010 - 1:01 pm
I have been working across the street from Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL) as an intern at Sandia National Labs, and picked this book up in Sandia’s library to get a better sense for the community around me.
Hugh Gusterson does a great job at documenting the culture of the LLNL scientists and how they face their jobs and those who protest them. This is a fascinating work by a keen anthropologist who has researched a culture that is foreign in its secrecy.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Diana Stegall on July 1, 2010 - 2:42 pm
While I enjoyed this book and all it’s talk about nuclear weapons, I had to add a side note that I love the way it really does capture this small town.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Armand D Sanchez on July 1, 2010 - 4:53 pm
Background Info: I majored in Anthropology at college.
This book has 2 main problems. 1) It is horribly boring. Yes, there are some interesting field works here. But too often the narrative is bogged down with explanations of anthropological or postmdern or Focaultian theories, which add absolutely nothing to it. I wanted an ethnography, not a text book.
2) The author did not one observe employees at work. Although this is understandable, it makes it hard to write a believeably ethnography. Obseving the employees at work is fundamental to research. Without that, this is just psychology, and not really true anthropology.
Rating: 2 / 5