First-hand account of life in a nuclear-testing zone Shocking details of the men's exposure to radiation When he was twenty-two, Michael Harris was drafted for a twenty-four month tour of duty. The first year was spent in the US, and the second at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground at Eniwetok. On a two-mile island with no activities or specified duties, Harris needed to find a way to pass the time. So he began writing for The Atomic Times, the only Eniwetok newspaper, whose motto was, 'All the News That Fits, We Print'. He filed for the administrators, wrote to his girlfriend and joked with the memorable characters that populated the island. The only breaks in the routine were the atomic bomb tests, for which the men were grossly under-prepared. Without protection of any kind, they were told to simply close their eyes and turn away from the blast. The radiation took its toll: some of the men lost hair and grew weak; others went insane. For those who worked in the shadows of mushroom clouds, exposure to radiation was a daily matter of life and death.
Harris reports everything that happened to him - radioactive rain, contaminated food, nuclear swims, and tragedy - with unforgettable imagery and insight into how isolation and isotopes change all men.
- ISBN10 0345487079
- ISBN13 9780345487070
- Publish Date 31 October 2006 (first published 1 September 2005)
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Out of Print 17 November 2010
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Presidio Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 288
- Language English