In 1963 the Home Office and Central Office of Information distributed this handbook for the civil defence, police and fire services to advise the public on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. The booklet told people what to do to protect themselves, their family and their home. From how to build an outdoor fall-out shelter and put together a survival pack, to what to do if a warning sounds, this is a terrifying glimpse of life under the threat of nuclear attack. Published to coincide with the V&A's Cold War Modern exhibition, this fully illustrated facsimile is also an excellent example of graphic design and illustration from the period.

In an era defined by the threat of nuclear annihilation, Western nations attempted to prepare civilian populations for atomic attack through staged drills, evacuations, and field exercises. In Stages of Emergency the distinguished performance historian Tracy C. Davis investigates the fundamentally theatrical nature of these Cold War civil defense exercises. Asking what it meant for civilians to be rehearsing nuclear war, she provides a comparative study of the civil defense maneuvers conducted by three NATO allies—the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom—during the 1950s and 1960s. Delving deep into the three countries’ archives, she analyzes public exercises involving private citizens—Boy Scouts serving as mock casualties, housewives arranging home protection, clergy training to be shelter managers—as well as covert exercises undertaken by civil servants. Stages of Emergency covers public education campaigns and school programs—such as the ubiquitous “duck and cover” drills—meant to heighten awareness of the dangers of a possible attack, the occupancy tests in which people stayed sequestered for up to two weeks to simulate post-attack living conditions as well as the effects of confinement on interpersonal dynamics, and the British first-aid training in which participants acted out psychological and physical trauma requiring immediate treatment. Davis also brings to light unpublicized government exercises aimed at anticipating the global effects of nuclear war. Her comparative analysis shows how the differing priorities, contingencies, and social policies of the three countries influenced their rehearsals of nuclear catastrophe. When the Cold War ended, so did these exercises, but, as Davis points out in her perceptive afterword, they have been revived—with strikingly similar recommendations—in response to twenty-first-century fears of terrorists, dirty bombs, and rogue states.

For almost five decades, the United Kingdom made plans for a nuclear attack that never came. To help their citizens, civil servants, and armed forces prepare, those in power designed and published a variety of booklets, posters, and how-to guides. Most infamous among these was the Protect and Survive campaign, but just as fascinating are lesser-known materials prepared for the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation and the Royal Observer Corps, many of which are reproduced here for the first time. From terrifying images issued by central government, to local councils' sometimes amateurish survival guides, 'Nuclear War in the UK' is a look at the way Britain's authorities reacted to the Soviet nuclear threat.

A “fascinating” guide to war propaganda of WWI and WWII, from “Loose Lips Sink Ships” to “Keep Calm and Carry On”—includes vintage images (Firetrench). A Guide to War Publications of the First & Second World War is devoted to the printed ephemera that was designed to educate, instruct, inform, and entertain during the first and second World Wars. This includes soldiers’ Field Regulations, updates airmen received about airborne early warnings, bomb sights, and radio navigation, and materials sailors were given to help them identify enemy aircraft and operate new weapons on submarines. This comprehensive guide illustrates the large amount of material produced during the war by looking at encouraging wartime sayings such as: “Go To IT!,” “Come Into The Factories,” “Keep Calm and Carry On,” “Dig for Victory,” “Lend A Hand on the Land,” and “Walk When You Can.” While showing how other messages warned of consequences to irresponsible behavior: “Careless Talk Cost Lives,” “Loose Lips Sink Ships,” “Keep It Under Your Hat,” and “Be Like Dad, Keep Mum.” Arthur Ward gives information on what propaganda was produced, what items are still available and where to find them, and how to conserve and store vintage printed items.

The book brings together cutting-edge scholarship from the United States and Europe to address political and cultural responses to the arms race of the 1980s.

In Supreme emergency, an ex-Trident submarine captain considers the evolution of UK nuclear deterrence policy and the implications of a previously unacknowledged aversion to military strategies that threaten civilian casualties. Drawing on extensive archival research, the book provides a unique synthesis of the factors affecting British nuclear policy decision-making and draws parallels between government debates about reprisals for First World War zeppelin raids on London, the strategic bombing raids of the Second World War and the evolution of the UK nuclear deterrent. It concludes that among all the technical factors, an aversion to being seen to condone civilian casualties has inhibited government engagement with the public on deterrence strategy since 1915.