Martin Sherwin struck the deal and dived into the research. But it was only when Kai Bird joined as a collaborator that American Prometheus came to be. By Andy Kifer Martin Sherwin was hardly your classic blocked writer. Outgoing, funny, and athletic, he is described by those who knew him as the opposite of neurotic. EDDIE… Read More Behind ‘Oppenheimer,’ a Prizewinning Biography 25 Years in the Making
When the Soviets exploded their first atomic bomb in 1949, US President Harry Truman ordered American scientists to embark on a new programme to build a hydrogen bomb, whose nuclear explosion could be 1,000 times more powerful… Oppenheimer, the government’s chief scientific advisor on nuclear policy and defence, objected on moral and practical grounds, reportedly telling… Read More ‘The father of the atomic bomb’ spent his final days as a Caribbean castaway
Scientists warned of dangers to those living downwind from the Trinity site but, in a pattern-setting decision, the director of the bomb project, General Leslie R. Groves, ruled that residents should not be evacuated and kept completely in the dark (even after they were sure to spot a blast brighter than any sun before dawn… Read More The atomic age was born 78 years ago — ‘cover-ups’ have held sway ever since
Hindu society must think about its own role in the creation of this Hindutva edition of Ramkatha. The electoral and behaviour of a large section of the community has led its leaders and cultural representatives to believe that its sensibilities have been so debased that it will have to accept Adipurush as its Ramayana. Adipurush has presented Hindu society… Read More ‘Adipurush’ speaks the language of Hindutva supporters. Why are they opposing the movie?
First posted December 05, 2017 by Harriet Swain The historian, a key player in the libel case involving Holocaust denier David Irving, talks about Trump, Goebbels and why he agrees with John Bercow NB: This is a therapeutic article for those who are beginning to falter in their belief in truth, not the Absolute, but the… Read More Richard Evans: the film Denial ‘shows there is such a thing as truth’. By Harriet Swain
Since Euromaidan and the first Russian invasion in 2014, Ukrainian filmmakers have been prolifically recording the impact of war on society. The result is an immensely powerful and varied body of work across genres and styles. A survey. Barbara Wurm ‘What power does art have in wartime?’ asks the poster for Iryna Tsilyk’s multiple award-winning… Read More Anthropology of war
Harry Belafonte obituary NB: He sang songs of plantation workers in the Caribbean, I remember hearing them through my childhood. What a great man. RIP Harry Belafonte (1927-2023) Harry Belafonte in a recording studio in the late 1950s. Photograph: Pictorial Parade/Getty Images Day O! The Banana boat song Day-o, day-oDaylight come and we want go homeDay,… Read More Harry Belafonte’s staggering musical and screen career
A new film on a Muslim woman from the southern Indian state of Kerala who raised three Hindu children has brought attention to the family’s unusual story. BBC Hindi’s Imran Qureshi spoke to the siblings who inspired the film. When Jafferkhan first watched Ennu Swantham Sreedharan (Yours Truly, Sreedharan), he says he was moved to… Read More Kerala: Muslim woman’s Hindu children inspire an Indian film
The Dream of Karabakh, about a woman’s attachment to her village, is rooted in personal memories that cannot be moved, unlike borders Lucia De La Torre I first met Shushan in February 2021. The mother of five was living in Landjazat village, near Armenia’s barbed-wire border with Turkey. The house, which belonged to some of… Read More New film focuses on love – not war – in Nagorno-Karabakh
NB: An extraordinary film by one of India’s most talented film-makers. What I saw were three visual metaphors: an eclipse of the sun which never lifted; a professor entering a dark place to contemplate darkness; and an armed woman waiting silently for something unspeakable. For me, the first metaphor signified the contemporary planetary condition; the… Read More Amar Kanwar: Such A Morning
After the truth-shower 