Bomboozled: How the U.S. Government Misled Itself and Its People Into Believing They Could Survive A Nuclear Attack

by Susan Roy

Conceived by a misguided government seeking to quiet the fears of an anxious public, the concept of the Family Fallout Shelter was Cold War paranoia at its finest, a massive bit of propaganda by architecture that has no more truth behind it than the absurd notion of duck and cover. Inundated with government-sponsored films, posters, booklets, traveling caravans and exhibitions, the American family bought into the idea, investing millions of dollars in home shelters of every conceivable material and design. Bomboozled: How the U.S. Government Misled Itself and Its People Into Believing They Could Survive a Nuclear Attack lays bare the buried truths of America's family fallout shelter obsession. Author Susan Roy charts the panic-fueled evolution of the shelter from a well-stocked basement pantry to a full-fledged (and often completely decorated) home addition, revealing through extensive archival photography, nuclear-era memorabilia, and previously unpublished media, a government and people in the grip of self-delusion. Fastidiously researched and sharply written, Bomboozled captures the absurdity and uncertainty of a culture that knew no better than to trust its government's message. Susan Roy is a writer and editor on architecture, design, and cultural history. The founding managing editor of Allure magazine, she has also held senior editorial positions at This Old House, SELF, Good Housekeeping and Avenue. She holds a master's degree in architectural history from Columbia University; Bomboozled is loosely based on the subject of her master's thesis, The Family Fallout Shelter During the Cold War.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

176 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2011

Reviews

[Megan]

This was a cool book displaying how governmental propaganda differed from actual evidence during the Cold War. Dealt a lot with fallout shelters which were highly publicized even though they would provide no protection if a nuclear bomb was in fact dropped. While there wasn't a lot of text in the book there were a lot of pictures displaying things from the media during the time. A cool coffee table type book which will definitely be beneficial to my research project.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 1950s and 1960s America’s Civil Defense agency promoted family bomb shelters as a necessary component to preserving life in the likely event of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The New York state legislature debated a bill that would have made it mandatory for every family to build a bomb shelter in their yard. Craziness gripped the land.

This book shows that craziness graphically with the posters, drawings, detailed plans, and photos of bomb shelters produced back then. No excuses were acceptable. Can’t afford a contractor to dig and build your underground shelter ? Then buy a length of corrugated steel pipe, did a hole with a shovel, bury the pipe, prepare move in to your new “home”. “It’ll be just like a vacation”, promised Civil Defense authorities. Seriously.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like a coffee table book. I enjoyed the pictures of old magazine covers, newspaper articles, and the like.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures and so forth (which make up most of the book) are fine, and quite illuminating/amusing. The text however is much less so. It's not too surprising that this book was based upon a master's thesis, as it definitely has that seminar smell about it. Among the symptoms: frequent use of words and phrases like "empowerment," "micromanage," "blame the victim," and needless classroomy explanations and elaborations of concepts that we evidently are deemed to be too dim to comprehend unaided. It also leads to such sillinesses as the following: "Judging from the illustrations in Civil Defense publications, the Nuclear Family was never African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, gay, or disabled" (which only seems to substitute one species of smallmindedness for another). And the author's constant cynical barbs ("The entertainment industry was quick to exploit America's nuclear obsession") seem a bit ironic when we note that the word Bomboozled bears a "TM" next to it on the title page. Then there's the following (from one of the captions): "Publishers capitalized on the crisis by repackaging the free public Civil Defense fallout shelter plans...and selling them for profit." Hm...kinda like what's happening here, huh? (lol). At the end the whole thing for some reason turns into a sort of PSA for Ploughshares (speaking of being bomboozled...).

Still, the book is well-designed and very good to look at, with loads of nice repros. It also taught me the distinction between a bomb shelter and a fallout shelter (I'd never noticed that there was one before). And I must say that I found the extensive photos of the underground home rather intriguing (if necessarily a trifle claustrophobic).

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange hybrid of thought provoking coffee-table book and cold-war history. The reproductions included are fascinating. The scary civil defence brochures range from upbeat propaganda to convince people they can survive nuclear war to horrifying warnings on the results of fallout filled with sick or dying stick figures. You see the government using a cynical mix of unfounded optimism and equally manipulative fear to keep people in line, often in the same materials. There are advertisements for a wide variety of period bomb and fallout shelters and also an examination of the different architectural approaches to shelter building. It culminates in a series of eerie and spectacular photos of the Hertz rent-a-car founder's underground home - basically the ultimate in underground shelters. In one underground chamber, there is a large beautifully decorated house, a seperate guest house, a pool, gardens, and a "sky" that could be shifted from starry night to sunny day. While the essay parts interspersed throughout the book were interesting, I wish they were expanded and had a little more rigor/research.

[Kellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about the Cold War and how the government tried to convince us that we could survive a nuclear attack with just a simple bomb shelter in our backyards or basements. One of the more absurd ideas was that if there was an attack, a family would have time to dig a hole in their backyard large enough for 4 people. The family would then all crawl into the hole and pull a piece of ply wood over the top, thereby creating a radiation fallout "fox hole". And people believed that stuff? The very last section compares the Cold War and the fear it instilled in us to the 9/11 terror attacks and how we are dealing with the fallout of that today. Has excellent pictures of pamphlets, ads, and other materials from the 50's and 60's. While reading this book, I laughed, shook my head, and got goosebumps. Well worth the read.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells its story mainly through illustrations taken from a variety of books and pamphlets from the Cold War period. I found this delightful. The book does have a few pages dedicated to text, but the images really tell the story. I really liked the contrast between pictures of simple dugouts that were intended for families that couldn't afford the massive cost of a true shelter compared to the massive underground homes complete with pools, fake trees and programmable weather.

There was a glaring error made on page four, that was not corrected anywhere else in the text. The author shows a picture of the Fat Man and Little Boy atomic bombs. The descriptive text states that Fat Man was dropped on Hiroshima, and Little Boy was dropped on Nagasaki. (It should be the other way around.) Despite this, I really enjoyed the book.

[David James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Think "Atomic Cafe" set to print, with a special emphasis on fallout shelters. This journey onto the surreal world in which Americans were inundated with the notion that thermonuclear war could not only be survived, but that in fact there would be any legitimate reason to want to do so makes for some fine black comedy. And kudos to Susan Roy for bringing us up to date on the final page with a reminder of the Bush Administration's advice on duct tape and plastic sheeting for surviving a dirty bomb. Fortunately this time people were skeptical from the start. Perhaps we've learned something.

[Matthew Hundley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't let the kitzchy cover fool ya'. While the many exhibits shown in this book seem funny and far-fetched now; they were taken very seriously in their day (watch the documentary film "The Atomic Cafe" for more insights into this era). The big question is why was the US government trying to make people think they could survive in the most meager of shelters? Mom in her kerchief and dad with his pipe cozied down in their bomb shelter? While the threat really has not diminished (the bombs are still stockpiled somewhere) at least the propaganda has stopped. The book jars the nostalgic side while also evoking a more serious tone into the conversation. Worth a read.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of images. Worth it just to page through to look at them. I really enjoyed the text as well however. I thought it was well researched and well organized.

I did not care for the last page however. While I completely agree with what the author is saying there not everything needs to be tied into current events or be made to further an agenda. I would have been happier if the book didnt bring up 9-11. It was a great book without it and that addition was annoying.

[Dave White · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are looking for an insightful analysis of mass hysteria and Cold War propaganda - well, this is not that book. This is a coffee table book, meaning there's about two pages of text for every thirty pages of illustrations. The illustrations are amazing, though. Susan Roy has managed to dig up enough old magazine illustrations and bizarre rarities to make this worth a flip.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please, please read this book! It's a coffeetable examination on emotional manipulation of citizens by their government followed by some startling fear mongering for profit. It will take you one hour. Totally worth it.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of fallout-shelter ephemera from the 50s and 60s. Apparently not many shelters actually got built, despite massive PR campaigns by the Eisenhower administration. One guy in Texas did build an entire house underground, complete with yard and encased in concrete.

[Phil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty dopey concept in terms of visuals - mostly reprinted photos, ads, etc. Interesting quick look at the "bomb shelter era." Browse it in a bookstore or library.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the collection of historical photos and nuclear attack propaganda.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool pictures, but this book was ultimately more a collection of images than an actual book.