Silo Psychosis: Diagnosing America’s Nuclear Anxieties Through Narrative Imagery

Abstract

The Cold War psychology — and often, psychopathology — of American culture was frequently acted out, and tellingly disclosed, through narrative articulations of its nuclear stream of consciousness: symbolic shadow-plays of new weapons and maybe-wars with which it both amused and indoctrinated itself over a long period of mushroom-clouded M.A.D.-ness. However, an optimally rigorous and revealing inquiry into American obsessions with, and representations of, the bomb might best be achieved through a comparative analysis which employs cross-cultural contrasts to bring the unique characteristics of U.S. nuclear nightmares into high relief. In particular, comparisons between British and American images of the bomb — and its aftermath — can be used to highlight the key features of America’s nuclear psychology, to explain their uniqueness, and to reveal the influence of nuclear weapons upon the consciousness of both the nation’s political elites and general public.