Atomic Days

The Hanford Site haunts the future of the Columbia River Basin, its land, people, plants, and animals. It's a nuclear crime scene that once made atomic weaponry. Joshua Frank dissects that historical crime scene, tracing it back to the colonization of this land while also pointing to the future crimes that may have been unleashed by perpetual radioactive pollution-a silent killer that cannot be seen or smelled and takes thousands of lifetimes to fully neutralize. Frank issues an urgent call to action. -Nick Estes (Lakota), author of Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance Joshua Frank's Atomic Daze is a brilliantly written, explosive expose of the most toxic site in the Western hemisphere and most expensive environmental cleanup in world history. He has given us a terrifying look at the radioactive nuclear materials produced at Hanford for four decades, the environmental catastrophe left behind, and the disastrous cleanup efforts that generate huge profits for companies like Bechtel despite lies, fraud and deadly accidents that only generate more corporate profits. But Frank also lifts up the courageous actions of whistleblowers, community watchdogs and Indigenous leaders who can lead the way out of this morass. Read the book and take action to end the nuclear insanity. -Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink Nuclear power's significant carbon footprint is generated by carbon-intensive uranium mining. And what is overlooked by nuclear power boosters is the neocolonial impact of mining and refining nuclear fuel on Indigenous communities ... All of this makes reading Joshua Frank's Atomic Days more crucial than ever. -Jacqueline Keeler, author of Standoff: Standing Rock, the Bundy Movement, and the American Story of Sacred Lands Joshua Frank takes us on a dangerous ride through Hanford, our most toxic site, where sewage waste from plutonium generation is actively chewing away at storage units full of the most poisonous stew on Earth. Frank peels back the layers of government secrecy that engulf the clean-up; the manipulations of the unions, the utter waste of clean-up contracts, and the Chernobyl-like disaster that awaits us all. Atomic Days is a crucial, timely book. -Doug Peacock, author of Was It Worth It?