This course will explore how and why the United States spent more than $6 trillion to build some 70,000 nuclear weapons, conduct more than 1,000 nuclear tests, and deploy and maintain a worldwide network of delivery systems, sensors, and communications assets capable of unleashing (or defending against) unimaginable devastation. Key developments and turning points in the history of the nuclear weapons program will be discussed, and the economic, environmental, and human health costs of the testing, production, and deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons will be quantified and assessed. Basic knowledge of nuclear weapons is helpful but not essential. This course includes select films and a special guest lecture by award-winning author Richard Rhodes (The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Dark Sun, and Arsenals of Folly).