Book ID: CBB001422378

Downwind: A People's History of the Nuclear West (2014)

unapi

Fox, Sarah Alisabeth (Author)


University of Nebraska Press


Publication Date: 2014
Physical Details: xiii + 285 pp.; index
Language: English

Downwind is an unflinching tale of the atomic West that reveals the intentional disregard for human and animal life through nuclear testing by the federal government and uranium extraction by mining corporations during and after the Cold War. Sarah Alisabeth Fox highlights the personal cost of nuclear testing and uranium extraction in the American West through extensive interviews with “downwinders,” the Native American and non-Native residents of the Great Basin region affected by nuclear environmental contamination and nuclear-testing fallout. These downwinders tell tales of communities ravaged by cancer epidemics, farmers and ranchers economically ruined by massive crop and animal deaths, and Native miners working in dangerous conditions without proper safety equipment so that the government could surreptitiously study the effects of radiation on humans. In chilling detail Downwind brings to light the stories and concerns of these groups whose voices have been silenced and marginalized for decades in the name of “patriotism” and “national security.” With the renewed boom in mining in the American West, Fox's look at this hidden history, unearthed from years of field interviews, archival research, and epidemiological studies, is a must-read for every American concerned about the fate of our western lands and communities.

...More
Reviewed By

Review Thomas R. Wellock (2015) Review of "Downwind: A People's History of the Nuclear West". Journal of American History (pp. 603-604). unapi

Review Childers, Leisl Carr (2015) Review of "Downwind: A People's History of the Nuclear West". Environmental History (pp. 527-528). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001422378/

Similar Citations

Book Johnson, Robert R.; (2012)
Romancing the Atom: Nuclear Infatuation from the Radium Girls to Fukushima (/isis/citation/CBB001251283/)

Article Alvarez, Robert; (2013)
Uranium Mining and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Program (/isis/citation/CBB001213770/)

Book Lazarín Miranda, Federico; Pichardo Hernández, Hugo; (2017)
La utopía del uranio. Políticas energéticas, extracción y explotación del uranio en México (/isis/citation/CBB110507208/)

Book Toshihiro Higuchi; (2020)
Political Fallout: Nuclear Weapons Testing and the Making of a Global Environmental Crisis (/isis/citation/CBB212919708/)

Book Melosi, Martin V.; (2013)
Atomic Age America (/isis/citation/CBB001213741/)

Book Malin, Stephanie A.; (2015)
The price of nuclear power: uranium communities and environmental justice (/isis/citation/CBB674066950/)

Article Brad Bolman; (April 2018)
How experiments age: Gerontology, beagles, and species projection at Davis (/isis/citation/CBB915389901/)

Article Nielsen, Henry; Knudsen, Henrik; (2013)
Too Hot to Handle: The Controversial Hunt for Uranium in Greenland in the Early Cold War (/isis/citation/CBB001212895/)

Book Arne Kaijser; Markku Lehtonen; Jan-Henrik Meyer; Mar Rubio-Varas; (2021)
Engaging the Atom: The History of Nuclear Energy and Society in Europe from the 1950s to the Present (/isis/citation/CBB782335181/)

Book Helen Anne Curry; (2022)
Endangered Maize: Industrial Agriculture and the Crisis of Extinction (/isis/citation/CBB812650669/)

Book Laurel Sefton MacDowell; (2017)
Nuclear Portraits: Communities, the Environment, and Public Policy (/isis/citation/CBB174282852/)

Book Jacob Darwin Hamblin; (2021)
The Wretched Atom: America's Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology (/isis/citation/CBB105394498/)

Article Justin B. Biddle; (2020)
Epistemic risks in cancer screening: Implications for ethics and policy (/isis/citation/CBB635137460/)

Article Holdren, John P.; (Fall 2001)
Changing Global and Social Determinants for Nuclear Power (/isis/citation/CBB170457812/)

Article Joye-Cagnard, Frédéric; Strasser, Bruno J.; (2009)
Energie atomique, guerre froide et neutralité: La Suisse et le plan “Atomes pour la Paix”, 1945--1957 (/isis/citation/CBB001022687/)

Authors & Contributors
Rubio-Varas, Maria del Mar
Holdren, John P.
Brad Bolman
Pichardo Hernández, Hugo
Meyer, Jan-Henrik
Malin, Stephanie A.
Concepts
Nuclear power; atomic energy
Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons
Cold War
Uranium
Pollution, radioactive
Technology and society
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
Places
United States
Japan
Soviet Union
Mexico
Ghana
Greenland
Institutions
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; Partial Test Ban Treaty; Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963)
United States Preventive Services Task Force
University of California, Davis. School of Veterinary Medicine. Radiobiology Laboratory
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment