Research
British Nuclear Culture
My research on the cultural and social history of the British nuclear state has been published in The British Journal for the History of Science, Urban History, and with Bloomsbury Academic. I am currently working on a number of articles and contributions for edited collections, and beginning a long-term book project on 1980s nuclear Britain.
In my first book, British Nuclear Culture (Bloomsbury, 2016), I argued that nuclear culture was a pervasive and persistent aspect of British life, particularly in the years following 1945. This idea was illustrated through detailed analysis of various primary source materials, such as newspaper articles, government files, fictional texts, film, music and oral testimonies. The book introduced unfamiliar sources to students of nuclear and cold war history, and offered in-depth and critical reflections on the expanding historiography in this area of research.
Chronologically arranged, British Nuclear Culture reflects upon, and returns to, a number of key themes throughout, including nuclear anxiety, government policy, civil defence, 'nukespeak' and nuclear subjectivity, individual experience, protest and resistance, and the influence of the British nuclear state on everyday life. The book contains illustrations, individual case studies, a select bibliography, a timeline, and a list of helpful online resources for students of nuclear history.
The book has received positive endorsements:
“At long last, a book that takes a long view of Britain's fascination with nuclear science. Jonathan Hogg takes us back to the Victorian age to show that British nuclear culture was born decades before the Cold War and that it flourishes to this day. Along the way, he takes in everything from H. G. Wells and Ewan MacColl to Morrissey and Alan Partridge. British Nuclear Culture will appeal to scholars and students of history, literature, politics and the mass media, and just about anyone interested in why and how Britain has lived with The Bomb.” – Tony Shaw, University of Hertfordshire
“We know the atomic bomb fundamentally transformed modern life, but Jonathan Hogg shows us that it did not do so in the same way everywhere. This is a important contribution to nuclear studies as it takes both nation and region seriously in the production of a nuclear culture. Hogg does not just follow expert concerns or defense policy debates, he also attends to the vernacular forms of local activisms across British cities and generations. British Nuclear Culture leads the way to a new comparative nuclear studies, and with it, a deeper understanding of the nuclear revolution.” – Joseph P. Masco, University of Chicago, USA
“This book offers a far-reaching critical analysis of the extensive reach of nuclear culture, and of the ripple effects that spread, like the concentric circles frequently used to represent an atomic blast, through almost every aspect of British life during the creation and maintenance of the nuclear state.” – Catherine Jolivette, Missouri State University, USA
See more: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/british-nuclear-culture-9781441169761/
Using Primary Sources
As part of my role as General Editor of Using Primary Sources, I will be disseminating research on the use of primary sources in the teaching on History in HE.