The Tainted Desert: Environmental and Social Ruin in the American West

by Kuletz,Valerie L.

• ISBN13: 9780415917711
• ISBN10: 0415917719
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-04-03
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

For decades, nuclear testing in America's southwest was shrouded in secrecy, with images gradually made public of mushroom clouds blooming over the desert. Now, another nuclear crisis looms over this region: the storage of tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste. TaintedDesertmaps the nuclear landscapes of the US inter-desert southwest, a land sacrificed to the Cold-War arms race and nuclear energy policy.

Author Biography

Valerie L. Kuletz has taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and currently is Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations/Maps
Legend of Map Symbols
List of Acronyms
Preface
Acknowledgments
Mapping the Nuclear Landscape	p. 1
Introduction	p. 3
Tragedy at the Center of the Universe	p. 19
Science Cities in the Desert	p. 38
Nuclear Wasteland	p. 81
Power, Representation, and Cultural Politics at Yucca Mountain	p. 121
The View from Yucca Mountain	p. 123
Cultural Politics	p. 159
The Country of Lost Borders	p. 185
Aboriginal Homeland	p. 205
The Experimental Landscape	p. 245
Conclusion	p. 283
Notes	p. 291
Bibliography	p. 319
Index	p. 331
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