The Collaborative for Multilingual Writing and Research (CMWR) enjoyed another great Autumn Quarter in our international Book Club reading Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Feter-Vorm. We snacked on cookies, read aloud together, and shared perspectives from around the world.
The novel delves back into the 1940’s to examine both the development of the atomic bomb and the decision to drop bombs “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (the latter being a secondary target; the original target, Kokura, narrowly escaped a bitter legacy due to poor visibility). During the course of our seven meetings we explored the intermingling of neutrons, electrons and protons while gaining an understanding of political and historical frameworks within U.S., Europe, and Asia during the highly secretive development of the bombs in Los Alamos, New Mexico. We also examined the legacy of this paradigm-shifting event, and what it meant for this new technology to be unleashed in the world. The discussion was, at moments, a sobering one. But as always, our Book Club provided an open space for questions, analysis, and an enjoyment of one another’s company.
Trinity proved an interesting, accessible text for a multilingual/international Book Club. If you want to know more about it, or how Book Club talked about it, check out Kiernan’s post about it! Anyone within the DePaul Community is invited to participate in future CMWR Book Clubs, which take place on Fridays at 1:00 in Lewis 1600 every quarter!