A scholar of the country music of the atom bomb

Cornelia Dean in the New York Times:

Some scholars study the atomic age by researching the bomb makers. Others delve into the physics of the nucleus, or the relations between East and West in the cold war.

Dr. Charles K. Wolfe listens to country music. In fact, he is a leading scholar of the country music of the atom bomb, a genre that flowered almost immediately after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II and faded away by the early 50’s.

For Dr. Wolfe, the bomb songs are a “bizarre” expression of a major theme in American folk music, the relationship of people and technology.

More here.