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Apocalyptic Crimes
Why Nuclear Weapons Are Illegal and Must Be Abolished
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2025
About this book
In 2023, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the iconic Doomsday Clock to ninety seconds to midnight—the closest to midnight, or civilization-ending apocalypse, it has ever been. Designed at the onset of the Cold War amid new fears of atomic weapons, the Doomsday Clock is a symbolic countdown to annihilation. Now, a generation later, the world is more vulnerable than ever to the nuclear weapons it sought to warn against. In Apocalyptic Crimes, Ronald C. Kramer reconsiders the immense danger these weapons pose to humanity, examining the use, threat to use, and continued possession of nuclear weapons from a criminological perspective.
Kramer argues that any country holding on to its nuclear arsenal—including the United States—is committing a criminal act. Offering a sharp rebuke to the common claim that nuclear stockpiles serve to deter the escalation of conflict, Apocalyptic Crimes emphasizes the harm caused by the mere possession of these deadly weapons. It further considers the culpability of political officials, acting as representatives of the state, whose threatening statements about nuclear weapons contain actions or omissions that violate specific international laws. But Kramer also shows how a nuclear apocalypse might be averted and offers a pathway to disarmament. Through critical analysis and a specific criminology of nuclear weapons, Kramer outlines the political actions necessary to rewind the Doomsday Clock and pull the world back from the brink of destruction—before the clock strikes midnight.
Kramer argues that any country holding on to its nuclear arsenal—including the United States—is committing a criminal act. Offering a sharp rebuke to the common claim that nuclear stockpiles serve to deter the escalation of conflict, Apocalyptic Crimes emphasizes the harm caused by the mere possession of these deadly weapons. It further considers the culpability of political officials, acting as representatives of the state, whose threatening statements about nuclear weapons contain actions or omissions that violate specific international laws. But Kramer also shows how a nuclear apocalypse might be averted and offers a pathway to disarmament. Through critical analysis and a specific criminology of nuclear weapons, Kramer outlines the political actions necessary to rewind the Doomsday Clock and pull the world back from the brink of destruction—before the clock strikes midnight.
Author / Editor information
RONALD C. KRAMER is a professor of sociology at Western Michigan University. His books include Carbon Criminals, Climate Crimes and State-Corporate Crime, both from Rutgers University Press.
Reviews
"A meticulous and detailed legal and historical account of the struggle waged around the world over the last eighty years to prevent nuclear weapons from ever again being dropped on human beings. This book is a powerful and eloquent contribution to winning that fight for life."
— The Catholic Worker"Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, as well as essential reading for the general public, anti-war political activists, and governmental policy makers, Apocalyptic Crimes . . . is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community and college/university library Nuclear Weapons/National Security and Warfare Ethics collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists."
— Midwest Book Review"There is no shortage of books about the dangers of nuclear weapons, but Kramer still makes a unique contribution with Apocalyptic Crimes. . . . Recommended."
— Choice"Kramer brilliantly provides an in-depth, meticulous, and unambiguous critical analysis establishing the immorality and illegality of nuclear weapons and the ominous catastrophic threat they pose to all of humanity and other living species. Apocalyptic Crimes is a timely must-read given the climate crisis, increased geopolitical tensions, wars, conflicts, and ongoing nuclear aspirations. Kramer elegantly demonstrates that the culture of nuclearism must end and atomic weapons should be abolished, dismantled, and destroyed before the Doomsday Clock clicks on midnight."— Dawn L. Rothe, coeditor of State Crime: Current Perspectives
"As one of few criminologists to warn of the threats posed to humanity by nuclear weapons, Kramer has been a prominent and assiduous voice on the importance of this issue within the discipline for over forty years. In this book, he provides a means of historicizing, conceptualizing, analyzing, and—importantly—challenging contemporary geopolitical apocalyptic crimes. Calling on scholars and the public to take seriously the stockpiling of and threats to use nuclear weapons, this book is a wake-up call for criminology to foreground these contemporary problems as key features of the discipline."— Ross McGarry, coauthor of A Criminology of War?
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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Foreword
ix -
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Preface and Acknowledgments
xxi -
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List of Abbreviations
xxv -
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Chapter 1 “It Is 90 Seconds to Midnight”
1 -
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Chapter 2 Nuclear Warfare Is Illegal
23 -
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Chapter 3 The Use of the Atomic Bomb against Japan and the Normalization of a Geopolitical Crime
51 -
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Chapter 4 Crimes of Empire
83 -
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Chapter 5 Nuclear Madness, Arms Control Treaties, and the End of the Cold War
109 -
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Chapter 6 After the Cold War
139 -
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Chapter 7 Current Apocalyptic Threats, the American Empire, and a Pathway to the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
177 -
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Notes
213 -
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Index
251
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
February 18, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9781978839366
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781978839366
Keywords for this book
sociology; criminology; crime; nuclear weapons; bombs; weapons; war; weapons of mass destruction; politics; public policy; global politics; hiroshima; cold war; nagasaki; WWII; America; Japan USA; United States
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
