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Colgate professor previews book about atomic bomb
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by Beth Mueller
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The Wisconsin Veterans Museum welcomed a Colgate University professor Wednesday night who lectured and read excerpts from his forthcoming book on the atomic bomb.
The passages from Rotter's book, "Hiroshima: The World's Bomb," which will be released in February, provided detailed and personal accounts of the experiences of both the firebombing of Tokyo and the use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima by the United States in 1945.
Rotter said while his work focuses on the atomic bomb, he includes the firebombing of Tokyo to give context to the use of the atomic bomb.
"Above all, I wish to argue that as bad as the atomic bomb was, the more significant threshold of terror had less to do with the weapon used to create it than its target," Rotter said. "The great crime of World War II, indeed, I think the great crime of the 20th century, was the decision made by someone, made by everyone, that noncombatants could be targeted from the air — an approach that rendered them particularly defenseless."
University of Wisconsin senior Ed Engler agreed, especially with Rotter's point that the use of the atomic bomb did not stand as distinct in the minds of Americans in 1945 and the following years as it does now.
"I enjoyed the presentation because people in our generations have grown up with the idea that nuclear weapons are a special and separate type, and the historical perspective of the time was that it's just more efficient, no more, no less," Engler said.
Rotter explained that the intentional similarity of his prose including firsthand accounts of each of the attacks reflected the common experiences of the victims.
"There seemed a logic, noble and less so, in the way that the bombed responded to their circumstances. … The experience of the bombed is important for the larger story of the war. It implies also sympathy for their plight," Rotter said.
He went on to note that, following the end of the war, Americans largely did not express this sympathy.
"Shortly after the war ended, a poll indicated that the majority of Americans wished the war had gone on longer so the United States could use more atomic bombs against the Japanese," Rotter said.
The lecture was presented at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, which UW history professor Jeremi Suri called "the best-run institute in the state of Wisconsin" during his introduction.
The museum works in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Department of History, the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy, Global Security Program, and the Division of International Studies.
"It was definitely one of the best history lectures I've gone to; it was definitely more of a personal interpretation versus the straight-up historical facts," said UW senior Lauren Roth. "It was almost more like a memoir than a straight-up historical interpretation."
Rotter has a Ph.D. from Stanford University and is a former resident of Madison.
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