Description:
In Atomic Environments, Neil S. Oatsvall examines how the development and deployment of atomic technologies transformed not only geopolitics and warfare, but also landscapes, ecosystems, and ways of understanding the natural world. Situating nuclear science within broader environmental and cultural contexts, the book explores how atomic power reconfigured relationships between humans, technology, and nature throughout the modern era. By tracing the environmental consequences and conceptual legacies of the atomic age, Atomic Environments offers a timely and interdisciplinary perspective on science, responsibility, and the lasting imprint of modern technological power.
Review Quotes:
"Using archival collections, published primary sources, websites, and secondary sources. . . . [Atomic Environments] represents solid scholarship with thorough documentation (50 pages of notes), and is well written."--CHOICE
"In this thoroughly researched account, Oatsvall challenges readers to rethink many of their assumptions about the relationship between nuclear weaponry and the natural environment. Attentive to detail and framed with appropriate nuance, Atomic Environments demonstrates convincingly that environmental knowledge was a key driver of the decision-making process for policymakers in the early years of the nuclear age."--Edwin Martini, coeditor of At War: The Military and American Culture in the Twentieth Century and Beyond