Description
Book Synopsis2024 Southwest Book of the Year
On July 16, 1945, just weeks before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that brought about the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II, the United States unleashed the world’s first atomic bomb at the Trinity testing site located in the remote Tularosa Valley in south-central New Mexico. Immensely more powerful than any weapon the world had seen, the bomb’s effects on the surrounding and downwind communities of plants, animals, birds, and humans have lasted decades.
In
The First Atomic Bomb Janet Farrell Brodie explores the history of the Trinity test and those whose contributions have rarely, if ever, been discussed—the men and women who constructed, served, and witnessed the first test—as well as the downwinders who suffered the consequences of the radiation. Concentrating on these ordinary people, laborers, ranchers, and Indigenous peoples who lived in the region and participated i
Trade Review"Methodically researched and expertly written, this book is a welcome addition to the historiography of the atomic bomb and its use."—J. Bourboun,
Choice“From the economics of eminent domain to the politics of historic preservation, environmental despoliation, and public health, Janet Farrell Brodie’s deeply researched, thoroughly compelling, and powerfully human history of the Trinity site should be read by everyone interested in the American West and the nuclear age.”—David M. Wrobel, author of
America’s West: A History, 1890–1950“Janet Farrell Brodie deftly weaves a ‘bottom up’ narrative into what is largely seen as a ‘top-down,’ tightly controlled military history. Her correct framing of Trinity as the first atomic experience reminds the reader of the intersection between local and global histories. . . . Clear, engaging, and substantive.”—Natale A. Zappia, author of
Raiders and Traders: The Indigenous World of the Colorado Basin, 1540–1859Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Trinity Test
2. Dispossessions
3. Building the Test Site
4. Post-Test Events at the Trinity Site, 1946–67
5. The Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Trinity Site
6. The Trinity Radiation and Its Afterlives
7. Historical Preservation of the Trinity Site
Notes
Bibliography
Index
