Yellow Dirt

 Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed by Judy Pasternak, 336 pages.

This work of investigative journalism follows the very long saga of Uranium mining on Navajo lands, from the beginning of the Uranium boom in the 1940s to the present day (as of the writing of the book in 2010). I feel the need to start with the fact that this book is infuriating to read. The entire experience mostly left me stewing in frustration that things like those described in the book could have ever happen, let alone keep happening for decades. This general feeling comes from nearly every direction. 

Early Uranium mines were monumentally unsafe, with no protective gear whatsoever. This was partially because the dangers of Uranium were not fully understood (a problem furthered by the fact that it was not in the best interest of anyone in power to acknowledge or understand them), and partially because the owners and foremen of the mines (all white men) couldn't be bothered to follow the basic safety protocols that were in place for mining sites off of the reservation (such as the use of water to keep down the amount of radioactive dust in the air). 

This is the first of countless dangers brought on by either ignorance, racism, or the unwillingness of anyone to take responsibility. I could get into more specifics, but honestly I don't think I could cover a fraction of the tragedies described in this book, so I would recommend reading it yourself. The end result of all of this is a Navajo population with exploding rates of various types of cancer and birth defects. 

This book is, overall, very accessible. I do not know very much about radioactivity or medicine, but Judy Pasternak did a really good job making it easy to understand both the problems and the scale of the dangers presented. There is also one silver lining that makes it easier to come away from this book feeling slightly less hopeless and enrages. This book is actually based on a series of articles that Pasternak wrote for a newspaper, and the final few chapters outline the action that is finally, after decades, being taken to fix the problem and begin to make reparations as a result of the rise in awareness she created. I think the small bit of hope at the end makes the whole book go down a fair bit easier, and it makes it possible to walk away from it slightly less haunted. I definitely think this book is worth a read, but only if you're prepared for the heavy emotionally toll of watching a story of preventable death unwinding over decades with little done to stop it.

Voices from Chernobyl

Voices from Chernobyl: the Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster / Svetlana Alexievich, trans. Keith Gessen, 236 p.

Interviews of emergency workers, their families, scientists, politicians, and ordinary people approximately 10 years after the explosion. 

If you look at election results around the globe in the past couple of years, you could be forgiven for thinking that when 'The People' speak, most of what they say is, well, stupid.  Alexievich demonstrates otherwise, thankfully.  The voices of ordinary farmers and laborers as they recount an experience both horrific and never-ending were profound, graceful, moving and extremely insightful.  At times the wisdom in these pages seemed to equal that of 100 novels.  The reading was so intense that I could only handle four or five pages at a sitting.

An especially memorable voice was that of Vasily Nesterenko, former director of the Institute for Nuclear Energy at the Belarussian Academy of Sciences.  He lays out in damning detail the many ways the government's practice of putting politics before science and plain denial greatly increased radioactive exposure to the population.  In reading his words, it was hard not to think of another country that puts politics before science with results we can only begin to predict.

Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie...

Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss  208 pp.

This is an unusual, artistic, and creative take on the life and work of Marie Curie, her husband Pierre, her lover Paul, Langevin, and her daughter and son-in-law, Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie. Using drawings, transparencies, cyanotype prints, photos, articles, maps, and more, Redniss presents the story of the Curies plus related information related to radioactivity, nuclear weapons, Chernobyl, and more. It's always intriguing although frequently the text is hard to read on the colored pages. While I was familiar with the lives and work of the Curies and their offspring, there was much in the side articles I didn't know. Added notes and appended information, including an explanation of cyanotype printing, adds to the experience.

This is a fascinating book both for the subject matter and especially the wonderful way it is presented.