Learning to Glow

by Bradley, John

• ISBN13: 9780816519569
• ISBN10: 0816519560
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Arizona Pr

Summary

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

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Practice of Humanity	xi
Alison Hawthorne Deming
Introduction: Invisibility	xv
John Bradley
Part I: IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST
At Play In The Paradise of Bombs	3	(16)
Scott Russell Sanders
White Sands	19	(8)
Ray Gonzalez
Mother Witherup's Top-Secret Cherry Pie	27	(6)
Bill Witherup
A Roller-Coaster Ride Through The Nuclear Age	33	(10)
David Seabarg
Imagine A World Without Nuclear Nightmares	43	(12)
Mary Laufer
Reciprocal Paranoia: Reflections on the Atomic Era and the Cold War	55	(20)
Phil Woods
Cold Fear And The Real Dr. Strangelove	75	(12)
Craig McGrath
All In The Family	87	(10)
Sonya Huber
In The Belly of The Beast	97	(14)
Barbara Kingsolver
Part II: COYOTE LEARNS TO GLOW
The Society of The Living Dead	111	(8)
Catherine Luigg
Voiceless Victims	119	(8)
Jim Carrier
Downwinders All	127	(6)
Mary Dickson
The Clan Of One-Breasted Women	133	(8)
Terry Tempest Williams
Tragedy At The Center of The Universe	141	(18)
Valerie Kuletz
Coyote Learns To Glow	159	(22)
Richard Rawles
The Pentagon's Radioactive Bullet	181	(8)
Bill Mesler
Brighter Than The Brightest Star	189	(12)
Karl Grossman
For Us All	201	(26)
Kay Mack
Part III: BEYOND DESPAIR
Baring The Atom's Mother Heart	227	(8)
Marilou Awiakta
At The Crossroads: In Hiroshima at the Fiftieth Anniversary	235	(12)
Edward A. Dougherty
The Cenotaph	247	(6)
Kenneth Robbins
Beyond Despair: An Imaginal Odyssey into the Soul of Hiroshima	253	(12)
Randy Morris
Atomic Holocaust, Nazi Holocaust: Some Reflections	265	(26)
Richard H. Minear
From Nuclear Patriarchy To Solar Community	291	(4)
Mayumi Oda
Recommended Reading	295	(2)
About The Contributors	297	(12)
Acknowledgments	309	(2)
Index	311