Learning to Glow: A Nuclear Reader [Paperback]

John Bradley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000

Atomic energy is not only invisible, it has been cloaked in secrecy by government, industry, and the military. Yet for many Americans the effects of radiation have been less than secret. Just ask the radium workers in Ottawa, Illinois, the "downwinders" of Utah, or unsuspecting veterans of the Gulf War. When told from the perspective of ordinary people, nuclear history takes on a much different tone from that of the tranquil voices of authority who always told us we had nothing to fear. In Learning to Glow, twenty-four essays testify to many of the unsuspected human and environmental costs of atomic science. They show that Americans have paid a terrible price for supposedly "winning" the Cold War--for although the nuclear nightmare may be over, we are still living with nuclear threats every day. Writers such as Scott Russell Sanders, Terry Tempest Williams, and Barbara Kingsolver reveal the psychic and emotional fallout of the Cold War and of subsequent developments in nuclear science. The essays include personal testimonies of what it was like to grow up with family members in nuclear-related jobs; hard-hitting journalism on the health and environmental costs of our nuclear policies and practices; and poignant stories of coming to terms with nuclear power, including contributions by writers who revisit Hiroshima in an attempt to heal the wounds left by the Bomb. These essays offer an alternative to the official version of nuclear history as told to us by school textbooks, government authorities, and nuclear industry officials. They are stories of and by ordinary people who have suffered the consequences of the decisions made by those in power-stories that have been largely ignored, dismissed, or suppressed. They will challenge readers to re-examine their preconceptions about the way we deal with issues of nuclear arms and radioactive waste because they show that nuclear history does not belong to experts but to us all.

Contributors:
Marilou Awiakta
John Bradley
Jim Carrier
Alison Hawthorne Deming
Mary Dickson
Edward Dougherty
Ray Gonzalez
Karl Grossman
Sonya Huber
Barbara Kingsolver
Valerie Kuletz
Mary Laufer
Kay Mack
Craig McGrath
Bill Mesler
Richard H. Minear
Randy Morris
Mayumi Oda
Catherine Quigg
Richard Rawles
Kenneth Robbins
Scott Russell Sanders
David Seaborg
Terry Tempest Williams
Bill Witherup
Phil Woods

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

From the beginning of the Cold War in 1950 through the 1990s, the nations of the world prepared to defend themselves through the manufacture and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. This book is a collection of 24 essays about ordinary people who, because of where they lived or worked, experienced the consequences of nuclear weapons manufacture and radiation exposure. Contributing authors include noted writers (Barbara Kingsolver, Terry Tempest Williams), journalists, professors, and activists who vividly recount details of the illnesses, deaths, suspicion, fear, and lies that were commonplace in the affected communities and the appalling secrecy and neglect by government, industry, and the military that intensified the suffering. The effects on participants, observers, and victims of the bomb tests in the Nevada Desert, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki are particularly revealing. Nuclear weapons manufacture and testing are still going on throughout the world. This anthology will be a wake-up call for those who fail to learn the lessons of history. Recommended.
-Irwin Weintraub, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Now that the cold war is over, the urgent threat of the nuclear arms war is virtually forgotten, though reports of nuclear "accidents" occasionally crop up. This anthology is intended to heighten awareness of the continued threat and to encourage ways of better managing U.S. policy on nuclear arms. This harrowing collection includes stories of workers toiling in munition plants during the Korean War, the testing of atomic bombs in the New Mexican desert, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and, more recently, reports of Persian Gulf War veterans suffering illnesses from exposure to uranium-coated ammunition. Also, Barbara Kingsolver, Scott Russell Sanders, and others examine the psychological and emotional impact of the threat of nuclear arms. The book is organized into three parts: personal testimonies from those who grew up during the cold war, examination of health and environmental costs of nuclear policies, and suggestions for overcoming fear and anxiety about nuclear disasters and how to "face nuclear decisions." Vanessa Bush --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 317 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press; 1St Edition edition (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816519560
• ISBN-13: 978-0816519569
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,287,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Glowing Here, May 20, 2001

By 

Jeff Sandstrom (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning to Glow: A Nuclear Reader (Hardcover)

As the title of this anthology makes all too obvious, the essays in this volume are little more than a rehearsal of hackneyed, misinformed myths about radiation and nuclear materials. The authors seem to flaunt their almost complete ignorance of the subject they are addressing as a mark of virtue. The only redeeming aspect of this book is that it demonstrates the remarkable similarity between the attitudes of the academic left and the Christian right toward scientific matters which they are unwilling to understand or incapable of comprehending.