Downwind of the Atomic State

""Mastery of nature has a dark side—spiraling unintended and unwanted consequences. James C. Rice’s history of radioactive fallout from atom bomb testing is a striking demonstration that it is almost easier to build weapons of mass destruction than to contain—or even recognize and admit—their grim penumbra. An object lesson for the Anthropocene."" * Andrew Pickering, author of The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future * ""With this gripping account of poisoned sheep, radioactive milk, and desert towns blanketed in nuclear fallout, Rice brilliantly reveals the technological hubris and governmental arrogance behind the post-war era of open-air atomic bomb testing. Based on new research and cutting-edge theory, Downwind of the Atomic State highlights the perils of underestimating a vibrant material world that can often be more complex and treacherous than we imagine. A powerful cautionary tale for our own day."" * Timothy James LeCain, author of The Matter of History: How Things Create the Past * ""Downwind of the Atomic State charts the relationship between human and non-human participants in the ongoing burdening of the Great Basin ecosystem with fallout radionuclides throughout the ‘open-air’ testing era. Rice tracks the tensions between the fallout models of the test site managers and the reality of the intractable uptake of fallout by the ecosystem, weaving a powerful narrative from test series to test series, and ultimately to the court cases that followed."" * Robert A. Jacobs, author of Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha *