American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War - Hardcover

Gallagher, Carole

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262071460 ISBN 13: 9780262071468

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1993

Synopsis

Examining the effects of fallout clouds in the U.S., these photographs portray people whose lives were crossed by radioactive fallout during the U.S. government's above ground testing of nuclear weapons in Nevada from 1951 to 1963.

About this title

Reviews

From 1951 to 1963, the U.S. government conducted atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in Nevada without regard to the effect of radioactive fallout on humans, livestock and the environment. In the late 1950s, birth defects and deaths from cancer began to soar among civilian and military test-site workers and their newborn children, and among "downwinders" living in Nevada, Utah and other western states. Gallagher, a professional photographer, spent several years interviewing and photographing these nuclear-test victims and gathering evidence of official indifference, callousness and outright cover-ups. The sheer density of suffering depicted here is awesome; in certain Utah towns, for instance, Gallagher found cases of cancer in every house. The bitter, stoic testimony of the victims (many of whom have since died), accompanied by Gallagher's photographic portraits of them, is deeply disturbing and exposes a major national scandal. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This book is a collection of photographs and oral histories of people whose lives were affected by radioactive fallout--civilians in Morman Utah and other Western states unlucky enough to live "downwind" from U.S. nuclear weapons testing during the 1950s and 1960s. Gallagher, a former New York photographer, spent seven years interviewing and photographing radiation survivors, who included dairy farmers, ranchers, professors, Native Americans, housewives, soldiers, artists, and shepherds. What they had in common were leukemias, brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, sterility, miscarriages, thyroid cancers, the death of children, medical bills, and funerals--not to mention dirty fallout and dirty politics. Gallagher's photos of these victims without status in this lonely geography are compelling and speak volumes. Highly recommended for all collections.
- Diane M. Fortner, Univ. of California Lib., Berkeley
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262071460
• ISBN 13: 9780262071468
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 461