Notes that communication scholars have traditionally examined nuclear discourse at the expense of nuclear images. Develops a nuclear-critical iconology, one sensitive to the role of images in creating and disrupting popular consent to the production of nuclear weapons. Examines three aesthetics in post-Cold War iconography for their significance…

Reviews the body of work inspired by the late Cold War period, where nuclear weapons briefly became a compelling object for communication scholars. Considers the prospects for nuclear communication scholarship in post-Cold War culture. Discusses "nuclear criticism" and issues regarding the bomb in communication. (SC)

Examines the ironic "problems" of the 1989 Hollywood film "Fat Man and Little Boy" (portraying the construction of the atomic bomb at the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II) to demonstrate the ideological operations of nuclear texts, and the role of the nuclear weapons organization as a symbolic form in cultural…