If You Poison Us: Uranium and Native Americans (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Murrae Haynes (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

One of several recent publications that reveal the extent to which Americans were poisoned by radiation after World War II, this work describes mining on the Navajo reservation from the late 1940s and early 1950s and then pursues its consequences into the 1990s. Eichstaedt follows the miners' quest for truth and compensation for widespread radiation contamination. Routinely exposed to radiation far in excess of safe levels and never informed, the miners began dying from mining-related illness within a few years of working in the mines. After long and frustrating battles, Congress finally passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990. Eichstaedt offers a well-documented, emotional account of the plight of the Navajos that complements Stewart Udall's The Myths of August (LJ 5/15/94) and Carole Gallagher's American Ground Zero (LJ 4/15/93). Recom-mended.
Randy Dykhuis, OHIONET, Columbus, Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This examination by a longtime reporter for the Santa Fe New Mexican of the devastating consequences that the nation's love affair with the atom had for Native Americans in the Southwest provides further support for the grim story that Stewart Udall tells in The Myths of August (BKL Je 1 94). (Eichstaedt acknowledges Udall, a major player in Navajo uranium miners' long battle for compensation, as a source of both documents and "moral and spiritual guidance.") If You Poison Us effectively combines scientific, political, business, and tribal history, sketching "how uranium mining began on Indian lands . . . and how its deadly legacy still lingers. . . . " Although the suits that Udall and others brought on behalf of Native Americans ultimately failed, Congress in recent years has begun to take action. (Notably, legislation to date addresses compensation for uranium miners but not for those exposed to huge doses of radiation in uranium mills, and cleanup of uranium mills but not the hundreds of uranium mines scattered across Southwestern Native American land.) A cogent, powerful report on an unnecessary tragedy. Mary Carroll

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Red Crane Books; 1st edition (September 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878610406
• ISBN-13: 978-1878610409
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #574,418 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Environmental Justice, December 9, 1999

By	claire (Arlington, Va) - See all my reviews

This book explains in great detail the injustices committed agains the Dineh (Navajo) people in the last century. The book explains the connection between Uranium mining and ill effects on the Dineh people. It explores issues like the health effects, environmental effects, and workers compensation for uranium mining. It has firsthand accounts of victims of radiation exposure. This book was very helpful for a paper I wrote for a college course. I would reccommend this book for those interested. It is well written and explains the uranium issue in a understandable way.