What do you think?
Rate this book
Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb
Atomic Steppe tells the untold true story of how the obscure country of Kazakhstan said no to the most powerful weapons in human history. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the marginalized Central Asian republic suddenly found itself with the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal on its territory. Would it give up these fire-ready weapons—or try to become a Central Asian North Korea? This book takes us inside Kazakhstan's extraordinary and little-known nuclear history from the Soviet period to the present. For Soviet officials, Kazakhstan's steppe was not an ecological marvel or beloved homeland, but an empty patch of dirt ideal for nuclear testing. Two-headed lambs were just the beginning of the resulting public health disaster for Kazakhstan—compounded, when the Soviet Union collapsed, by the daunting burden of becoming an overnight nuclear power. Equipped with intimate personal perspective and untapped archival resources, Togzhan Kassenova introduces us to the engineers turned diplomats, villagers turned activists, and scientists turned pacifists who worked toward disarmament. With thousands of nuclear weapons still present around the world, the story of how Kazakhs gave up their nuclear inheritance holds urgent lessons for global security.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published February 15, 2022
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 22, 2024
Around the World Reading Challenge: KAZAKHSTAN
===
This was such a fascinating read! While I've tried to primarily read fiction in this challenge, sometimes non-fiction is all that's available, or there's a non-fiction read that seems particularly compelling. This was was a well-researched and quite thorough telling of the nuclear testing that the Soviet Union conducted in Kazakhstan, and the lasting impacts of that on the people and country as a whole. I enjoyed learning more about this country and what they've gone through, and though this is a topic that can get quite dense and technical, I never found the style to be too dry or academic.
===
This was such a fascinating read! While I've tried to primarily read fiction in this challenge, sometimes non-fiction is all that's available, or there's a non-fiction read that seems particularly compelling. This was was a well-researched and quite thorough telling of the nuclear testing that the Soviet Union conducted in Kazakhstan, and the lasting impacts of that on the people and country as a whole. I enjoyed learning more about this country and what they've gone through, and though this is a topic that can get quite dense and technical, I never found the style to be too dry or academic.
March 21, 2022
A breezy and compelling introduction to Kazakhstan’s nuclear past and future, as well as broader nuclear disarmament dynamics. Kassenova tells the story of nuclear testing in Kazakhstan from its beginnings in the Cold War, to the Nevada-Semipalatinsk movement against testing as the Soviet Union fell, to the new republic’s negotiations with the United States and Russia to give up its weapons forever. Although Kassenova is an academic, she presents the material in an approachable manner, like a knowledgeable friend telling you about their research over a drink or a meal. Highly recommended!
December 28, 2022
An excellent, well researched and passionate read about a crucially important but understudied topic. Kassenova combines a touch for conveying human stories with a detailed understanding of diplomacy, bureaucratic political system and popular movements. I was also struck by how well she connects the events she discusses with wider global politics. And she manages all of this while remaining highly accessible despite what is often a dense and technical topic. I highly recommend this excellent book to anyone interested in nuclear security, the post-Soviet states and US diplomacy, and more generally as a shining example of socially engaged and accessible scholarship.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews