Banning the Bomb Smashing the Patriarchy offers a look inside the antinuclear movement and its
recent successful campaign to ban the bomb. From scrappy organizing to winning the Nobel Peace
Prize in 2017 and achieving a landmark UN treaty banning nuclear weapons this book narrates
the journey of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and developments in
feminist disarmament activism. Acheson explains the process through which diplomats activists
and nuclear survivors worked together to elevate the horrific humanitarian and environmental
impacts of nuclear weapons develop new international law categorically prohibiting the bomb
challenge the nuclear orthodoxy and strengthen norms for disarmament and peace. Told from the
perspective of a queer feminist antimilitarist organizer who was involved from the start of the
process through to the treaty's adoption the book utilizes interviews with dozens of
participants as well as critical theoretical perspectives about transnational advocacy
networks discourse change and intersectional feminist action. It is meant to provide useful
insights for anyone trying to make change amidst structures of power and politics.
