“This study serves as the first comprehensive account of the impact of nuclearism on Native Americans in the U.S. Southwest-- and account that also points to a much larger problem of nuclear colonialism worldwide, in which nuclear activities continue on lands historically inhabited by indigenous people.”
The story of nuclear testing in Nevada in the 1950s and 1960s, and the subsequent health effects on the unsuspecting people downwind in Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The book is framed around the 1982 trial by cancer victims and their survivors, which the author, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, attended.
The story of the Atomic Energy Commission's atomic bomb testing in Southwestern Utah and Eastern Nevada in the early 1950s. Most of the bombs were more powerful than Hiroshima, yet the government assured the local population that they were safe, and denied responsibility for their ensuing illness.
Recommended by Fairewinds board member Chiho Kaneko, “Refuge” is the powerful true story of a family in Utah who are experiencing the health effects of atomic bomb testing. Williams, a naturalist and writer, parallels the story of her mother dying of radiation-induced cancer with the environmental changes occurring simultaneously, as the Great Salt Lake rises to record heights and threatens local wildlife.
Fairewinds Energy Education is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to furthering public understanding of nuclear power and nuclear safety related issues.
