The Firecracker Boys

Rating:
Summary: Essential, scary reading
Review: About a fascinating chapter in American history, and how the democratic process prevailed--barely--over the certain vested interests in the military-industrial complex. Makes Dwight Eisenhower look like a prophet--and also details some of the career of Edward Tellar, rightly celebrated as the father of the American H-bomb but then subsequently responsible for much bad science, including Ronald Reagan's Star Wars. This book is very well researched and documented. One moral to draw: citizens must be involved with public policy. The former Soviet Union, undertaking a similar project, turned areas of Siberia so radioactive that it will not be safe to dwell there for 10,000 or more years. We almost did the same in Alaska--but thankfully did not. Read this book to (1) understand how this disaster was averted, and what we can do to continue to safeguard our democratic processes; and (2) for great--true--story.

Rating:
Summary: Essential, scary reading
Review: About a fascinating chapter in American history, and how the democratic process prevailed--barely--over the certain vested interests in the military-industrial complex. Makes Dwight Eisenhower look like a prophet--and also details some of the career of Edward Tellar, rightly celebrated as the father of the American H-bomb but then subsequently responsible for much bad science, including Ronald Reagan's Star Wars. This book is very well researched and documented. One moral to draw: citizens must be involved with public policy. The former Soviet Union, undertaking a similar project, turned areas of Siberia so radioactive that it will not be safe to dwell there for 10,000 or more years. We almost did the same in Alaska--but thankfully did not. Read this book to (1) understand how this disaster was averted, and what we can do to continue to safeguard our democratic processes; and (2) for great--true--story.

Rating:
Summary: Eye-opener of a read
Review: I cannot count the number of times I looked up from this book and stared into space with complete disbelief. To think that someone in the Cold War era might think it was just fine to detonate nuclear devices near an ancient community--in my backyard--baffled me.

But then, I missed such days. This book therefore was an excellent insight to the diminsions of the Cold War that would consider such explosions. The author ovbiously spent years researching the project, the people and the purpose; his work speaks well for Alaskan Intellect. But beyond that, the story is facinating and the reader is drawn in. (However, it does miss that fifth star because it drags around page 60...enough that I put it down for two months.)

My next stop after this book was the Bikini Atoll and Marshall Islands, as THE FIRECRACKER BOYS absolutely peaked my interst in Cold War nuclear testing. It should do the same for others who read it.

Rating:
Summary: Creepy
Review: I cannot help but notcice how the reviewers which seem to have been deeply disgusted by this book prefer to remain anonymous. Even if their opinion is that nuclear testing should continue, it disturbs me that these reviewers were not taken aback by the colossal mountain of half-truths, misrepresentations, and downright lies that the AEC (Atomic Energy Comission) used to lobby this project to Alaskans.

And remember, these are the same guys who concluded that it would be acceptable to conduct underground nuclear tests near one of the most active fault lines in the world, on Amchitka Island out on the Aleutian chain.

I can only say that never again will I be able to look at a map of my state without imagining a "polar bear shaped harbor" etched in to the wind battered coast somewhere between Barrow and Kotzebue.

Rating:
Summary: A Well Written and Researched Cautionary Tale
Review: This book is excellent! It's just mind-boggling to imagine that Teller and his boys (hence the title) almost got away with exploding a nuclear "device" near Kotzebue under the guise of creating a deep-water harbor... The absolute apathy and ignorance of many Interior Alaskans and the lap-dog behavior of many at the Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks and local media is really disappointing... A excellent read about a near disaster of our times (many of the characters are still alive and some still are involved at UAF, my alma mater)... Think Alaska is pristine and still pure? Think again... The heroes of this book, while many of them paying a great price, are given the attention they deserve in this piece of wonderful writing...

Rating:
Summary: They almost got away with exploding a nuclear bomb... in AK!
Review: This book is excellent! It's just mind-boggling to imagine that Teller and his boys (hence the title) almost got away with exploding a nuclear "device" near Kotzebue under the guise of creating a deep-water harbor... The absolute apathy and ignorance of many Interior Alaskans and the lap-dog behavior of many at the Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks and local media is really disappointing... A excellent read about a near disaster of our times (many of the characters are still alive and some still are involved at UAF, my alma mater)... Think Alaska is pristine and still pure? Think again... The heroes of this book, while many of them paying a great price, are given the attention they deserve in this piece of wonderful writing...