Fallout :

Documents the story behind the story of the nuclear testing in southern Nevada during the 1950s when radioactive fallout drifted into surrounding communities. First sheep began dying, according to the author, and then people. The book places blame for the incident on all levels of government, from presidents to radiation monitors. The author is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

What Fradkin ( California: The Gold Coast , etc.) terms ``ultimate'' fallout refers not to the death or injuries suffered by radiation victims in the Southwest from the 1950s nuclear tests, but to the betrayal of these citizens by government, from local monitors to presidents and Supreme Court justices operating behind the screen of national security. This well-re searched expose attests to the negligence, ignorance and corruption of authorities, and violation of the Nuclear Test Ban treaty. Starting with the initial 1978 suit by fallout victims against the Department of Energy, the author relentlessly traces futile legal actions which culminated in the reversal by the appellate courts of a 1984 award for damages to 10 claimants. The Supreme Court's refusal to hear an appeal supports his contention that the judiciary consistently upheld the government's policy of denial, placing national security above human health. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

A meticulously researched recounting of the events sparked by the atmospheric testing of atomic weapons in the Nevada desert during the 1950's and 60's: a tale of governmental inefficiency (or worse), of human trust and duplicity and resultant suffering, of political cynicism and greed. The narrative opens with ""Shot Harry,"" a test that took place on the morning of May 19, 1953, producing particularly heavy radioactive fallout. The radioactive debris soared skyward, then drifted over sparsely populated areas to the east. There was minimal protection offered, almost no advance planning, and, after the explosion, more than one attempt to deny the subsequent animal deaths and human illnesses. In succeeding years, an uncommonly high percentage of residents of the area developed cancer; many died. The pattern for the continuing policies of the Atomic Energy Commission had been set. Fradkin (A River, No More, 1981) traces subsequent events--more tests, more public-relations cover-ups, more governmental and scientific stonewalling--with admirable bulldog persistence: interviewing survivors and the families of the victims; cross-questioning AEC employees, government officials, scientists, and nuclear critics; examining documents and court transcripts. He is convincing in Rowing how the Cold War mentality, the Chinese incursion in Korea, McCarthyism, and the Rosenberg trial, among other things, affected the decision to initiate continental testing and provided the needed excuse for secrecy and deception in dealing with the proliferation of atomic weaponry. And if Fradkin occasionally becomes shrill, his impatience is understandable. Many of the statements and documents quoted are insensitive, to say the least. Take, for example, the comment by Norris Bradbury, J. Robert Oppenheimer's successor as director of the Los Alamos Laboratory: ""Sure there were a few people with leukemia. More people get killed in automobile accidents every hour than ever will die of leukemia."" The Reagan Administration, with its immense defense budget and its simultaneous harping on runaway ""deficit spending,"" is the target of some of Fradkin's most pointed barbs. An expos‚ that should create a firestorm of controversy and that deserves a wide audience. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Fradkin provides a detailed look at the nuclear weapons testing programs from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s, criticizing the human suffering that was brought on by nuclear tests that were held without the full understanding of the people in the Southwest. According to the author, blisters, burns that would not heal, and high incidents of cancer were in some cases hidden from the general public by the Atomic Energy Commission. Included are numerous recounts of actual case studies, in-depth data drawn from government publications and national periodicals, and descriptions of the people involved in the government agencies, regulatory bodies, and top-secret research projects. The final court battles in the Supreme Court in the last few years are also reviewed. This tragic episode, and the accompanying controversy that has surrounded it, makes for interesting reading. Notes; to be indexed. GRH.

Library Journal Review

This book discusses nuclear testing in Nevada in the 1950s and its effect on off-site civilians in the surrounding region. The framework is a trial, begun in 1982 and ended ignominously in 1988 with a pro-government verdict. The plaintiffs were cancer victims and surviving relatives interested in protecting future generations ``by establishing harm as a fact,'' but the book is less about the nuclear testing-cancer connection than about government's betrayal of its citizens. The author, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, observed the trial, interviewed 150 persons, and did research in numerous libraries. A local university official quoted here ranks studies in this area of highest importance in terms ``of how we're going to live with ourselves and our civilization over the next century.'' Highly recommended.-- Diane M. Brown, Univ. of California Lib., Berkeley (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Available:*

Bound With These Titles