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The Tainted Desert
For decades, nuclear testing in America's southwest was shrouded in secrecy, with images gradually made public of mushroom clouds blooming over the desert. Now, another nuclear crisis looms over this the storage of tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste. Tainted Desert maps the nuclear landscapes of the US inter-desert southwest, a land sacrificed to the Cold-War arms race and nuclear energy policy.
- GenresEnvironmentHistory
362 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 8, 2022
First chapter and the introduction were good. After that this was a linguistic exercise in redundancy. The remaining chapters were simply the first part of the book rephrased, with minimal additional research, and minor insights.
This book was the author's thesis, they just needed to make the word count, and it shows.
This book was the author's thesis, they just needed to make the word count, and it shows.
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July 16, 2019How do deserts become "wastelands"?
How did parts of each of the five deserts in the US become part of the largest militarized zone on the planet? Worse, how did these indigenous homelands become a "nuclear landscape"?
Erudite examination of the environmental impacts of nuclear activities in the American West and of the differing ways that Native Americans (mostly Paiute & Shoshone) imagine and occupy these lands compared to the ways nuclear scientists and military people use the land. Also explores the process of determining whether Yucca Mountain in Nevada will serve as a deep geologic burial site for nuclear waste. (Book was written in 1997; incredibly the project is still fitfully being worked upon after many stops and starts.) Kuletz lays out the competing claims to these lands by Native Americans, antinuclear activists, Euro- American scientists, and government officials.
How did parts of each of the five deserts in the US become part of the largest militarized zone on the planet? Worse, how did these indigenous homelands become a "nuclear landscape"?
Erudite examination of the environmental impacts of nuclear activities in the American West and of the differing ways that Native Americans (mostly Paiute & Shoshone) imagine and occupy these lands compared to the ways nuclear scientists and military people use the land. Also explores the process of determining whether Yucca Mountain in Nevada will serve as a deep geologic burial site for nuclear waste. (Book was written in 1997; incredibly the project is still fitfully being worked upon after many stops and starts.) Kuletz lays out the competing claims to these lands by Native Americans, antinuclear activists, Euro- American scientists, and government officials.
August 24, 2007
For once, someone has taken a look at the social/environmental destruction our Fed government has done to the Great Basin in the American West. The land is sacred to those who lived upon it for centuries. Yet our government and nuclear industry see it as a "perfect" dumping ground for our nuclear waste. Also noted that Yucca Mountain is along a geologic fault line.
May 8, 2008
This book concerns the construction of the Nuclear West and its social and environmental effects. We typically do not hear about the populations that nuclear weapons development and testing impacts. Kuletz provides an inside perspective. She grew up as the daughter of a scientist at a test site, has done extensive background research, and interviewed Native Americans to record their struggles.
August 5, 2007
for "date i read this book" i would have to actually say, "continuous." it is one of the longest, slowest, most important reads i have ever read. reading this book is like wading through molasses. maybe shocking, distressing molasses.
September 1, 2008
While I agree with the author's views, she claims to be presenting an objective view of the situation and does no such thing. Very informative, particularly for people not terribly familiar with the nuclear disposal/native american issue.
July 22, 2010
I love this book. Read it a couple times, and cite it all the time in papers. This is a really good look at how we produce sacrifice zones in this country, who gets sacrificed for our collective "security", etc.
April 20, 2017
An excellent read for anyone interested in environmental policy, indigenous and colonial power play, and narrative construction. Kuletz work is the right balance of accessible without losing a sense of academic weight.
October 16, 2012
A sad review of what nuclear testing is doing to our planet from an scientists perspective.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews