The Atomic Times: My H-Bomb Years at the Pacific Proving Ground - Hardcover

Advance praise for The Atomic Times "A gripping memoir. . . leavened with humor . . . a tribute to the resilience, courage, and patriotism of the American soldier."-Dr. Henry Kissinger "A unique opportunity to peer inside a moment of American history that we are all too eager to forget. Michael Harris has seamlessly presented a colorful cast of characters, and a shockingly honest depiction of his experience in the isolated Pacific islands during the1955 H-Bomb tests. The effect is at once deeply personal and politically profound."-Senator Charles E. Schumer "Brilliantly conceived, elegantly rendered and persuasively authentic."-Robert B. Parker, author of the Spenser and Jesse Stone series "One of the best books I've ever read . . . an eerie preview of what our future could be . . . a must read, destined to become a classic."-John G. Stoessinger, Ph.D., winner of the Bancroft Prize for International Affairs, member of the Council on Foreign Relations "Touching, horrifying, and uproariously funny."-Robert Jervis, Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Affairs, Columbia University "A real page-turner. I couldn't put it down."-Rona Jaffe, author of Class Reunion and The Best of Everything "Tragic and yet hilarious, and unlike anything I've ever read. This is the reality of life at ground zero." -Phillip Jennings, author of Nam-A-Rama "Written against a backdrop of exploding nuclear bombs, Harris's memoir is a chilling reminder that human beings are capable of great destruction as well as great teamwork and achievement."-Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D., author of The One Minute Manager

First-hand account of life in a nuclear-testing zone Shocking details of the men's exposure to radiation When he was twenty-two, Michael Harris was drafted for a twenty-four month tour of duty. The first year was spent in the US, and the second at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground at Eniwetok. On a two-mile island with no activities or specified duties, Harris needed to find a way to pass the time. So he began writing for The Atomic Times, the only Eniwetok newspaper, whose motto was, 'All the News That Fits, We Print'. He filed for the administrators, wrote to his girlfriend and joked with the memorable characters that populated the island. The only breaks in the routine were the atomic bomb tests, for which the men were grossly under-prepared. Without protection of any kind, they were told to simply close their eyes and turn away from the blast. The radiation took its toll: some of the men lost hair and grew weak; others went insane. For those who worked in the shadows of mushroom clouds, exposure to radiation was a daily matter of life and death. Harris reports everything that happened to him - radioactive rain, contaminated food, nuclear swims, and tragedy - with unforgettable imagery and insight into how isolation and isotopes change all men.