The Firecracker Boys: H-Bombs, Inupiat Eskimos, and the Roots of the Environmental Movement

by Daniel T. O'Neill

In 1958, Edward Teller, father of the H-bomb, unveiled his plan to detonate six nuclear bombs off the Alaskan coast to create a new harbor. However, the plan was blocked by a handful of Eskimos and biologists who succeeded in preventing massive nuclear devastation potentially far greater than that of the Chernobyl blast. The Firecracker Boys is a story of the U.S. government's arrogance and deception, and the brave people who fought against it-launching America's environmental movement. As one of Alaska's most prominent authors, Dan O'Neill brings to these pages his love of Alaska's landscape, his skill as a nature and science writer, and his determination to expose one of the most shocking chapters of the Nuclear Age.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Environment, Book Club

448 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

Dan O'Neill (Daniel T. O'Neill) is an Alaskan writer. Born in San Francisco, California, in 1950, Dan O'Neill came to Alaska in the 1970s. Settling in Fairbanks, he did a variety of things, such as building log cabins, dog mushing, working as a laborer, conducting oral history interviews, and as a producer of radio, television, and video productions dealing with history, science, and politics. Now a full-time writer, he is the author of three Alaskan themed books. From 1985 to 1995 he worked for the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, including doing project interviews about the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, digitized at Project Jukebox.[1] These interviews formed the basis of his book A Land Gone Lonesome, which was awarded an "Editor's Choice" at The New York Times Book Review. He was an opinion columnist for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner from 1998 to 2002. O'Neill twice won the Alaska Library Association's "Alaskana of the Year Award" for the best book on Alaska published anywhere.[2] He also was named Alaska Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society. In 2015, the University of Alaska Press published his first book for children, Stubborn Gal: The True Story of an Undefeated Sled Dog Racer.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

On my recent (and only) trip to Alaska, a friend took us to a wonderful play about the history of Alaska as seen through Inuit eyes. The play transformed my entire view of Alaska and the Arctic and gave me an exciting new approach to our entire trip. This book continues that experience. It tells the story of the United States’ AEC attempt to use Alaska as a testing ground for nuclear weapons. It tells the story of how we (as a people, as a nation) have not been able to see the world except through our own narrow perspective. We saw Alaska as a barren land with nothing there and hence a great place to test nuclear explosions. Of course, Alaska and the Arctic are not barren and there are people, animals, plants and an entire culture there, but we couldn’t/can’t see it. I was impressed with the some of the academics at the University of Alaska – e.g. professors of biology- and that some were willing to sacrifice jobs and lifestyle to a higher moral purpose. I wonder if I would have been able to make such a noble choice.

My favorite chapter was probably The AEC Meets the Eskimos. I loved the information/stories about the Inuit and their fascination with tape recorders. This was/is an oral culture and the tape recorder was a perfect technology for them. Be sure to read the Epilogue, the Afterword, and the Methodology sections. I often read these sorts of sections first, but this time my advice is to wait and read them after you have finished the main portion of the book.

The book occasionally shows bias (since it is also my bias it is easy to overlook), but it is based on oral history interviews and a large set of documents, some only recently released (the book was originally published in 1995 so the word recently here is means 20 plus years ago). I very much appreciate the work of the author to do interviews and visit sites before people died. I appreciate his attempt to be fair.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the book was, at times, repetitive, at other times it was simply amazing. The author brought to life the fact that in the 1960s American scientists might have detonated multiple nuclear warheads in Bush Alaska basically to just see what happened. The fact that they didn't have a real purpose, other than to see what happened, permission to be on the land, or a conscious about the people/animals/environment that they would have irreparably harmed didn't seem to cross their minds. The author goes into great detail about all the inner-workings of the different committees, media tours, manipulations of data. It's a science-lovers niche book. That fact that I read this during the wars over whether to build Pebble Mine was just fantastic. I hope that in 30 years after Pebble is NOT built someone digs this deep and writes to this detail and people around the world wonder how anyone could have ever thought it was a good idea. Other thoughts while reading this book: if there was an undiscovered (until this book) nuclear waste just outside of Point Hope what prevents the sick caribou that were part of the recent massacre outside of Point Hope (Kivalina?) getting sick from another "undiscovered" one. Or the newly found sick seals that have skin lesions. Has anyone looked into the barrels of nuclear waste that the author mentions were buried just off of Amchatka? Sure sounds like radiation poisoning to me. Very well thought out book, very well written, very well investigated. A huge thank you to Dan O'Neill.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, important, at times very tedious, but ultimately a hell of a read in 2018, paralleling the DOI's current push to develop every inch of Arctic Alaska for oil, despite public opinion.

Read my review/op-ed here: https://49writers.org/2018/05/erica-w...

[Susan Letts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Just wow!

To quote Peter Matthiessen's statement on the cover of the book, "The Firecracker Boys, exceptionally well-researched and well-written, is a scary and infuriating story of nuclear irresponsibility and the human tragedy only narrowly averted; as an historically important book, its reissue is most welcome."

I didn't know of the originally published book and therefore, couldn't have known that it was to be reissued, however the first part of Mr. Matthiessen's statement precisely sums up my feelings about this book!

I learned a great deal about the history of nuclear testing from this book and honestly, what I learned frightened me. I had no idea how much nuclear testing had been performed in our country and the former Soviet Union. It shows how much we need a system of checks and balances and that we, as citizens, need to be aware of what is going on and make sure to let our opinions be known through our votes and our voices.

We cannot always know what's happening in other countries, but we can at least, try to be vocal in the actions of our local governing bodies and have the presence of mind to ask questions and demand satisfactory answers.

The part that bothered me the most in this book was how much the Atomic Energy Commission (it existed from 1954-1974) manipulated data (or the lack thereof) and pressured the staff at the University of Alaska and contracted scientists to in essence, give them the results that they wanted, so that they could charge ahead with their project, regardless of the inherent dangers and uncertainties.

While I did not find this book a "fast read" (it took me a very long time to finish it) I did find it worthwhile and would recommend it.

In conclusion, I am grateful that the Atomic Energy Commission was stopped by a concerned public and did not conduct their nuclear testing in the Arctic tundra on the North Slope of Alaska. The results would have even more disastrous than the irresponsible actions they secretly undertook. They did, however, take out their frustrations by exploding a huge, 100 kiloton nuclear bomb in Nevada called "Sedan" in July of 1962, ejecting 24 billion pounds of irradiated earth, some of it climbing two miles into the air and drifting across the United States and into Canada. At the first publication of this book, thirty-two years after the detonation, there were still signs at the Nevada Test Site warning not to dig near the crater.

[Andrew Dowd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recounting the absurd-yet-true story of Project Chariot, "The Firecracker Boys" is a well-researched book about a piece of history where nuclear testing and environmentalism collided.

Championed by nuclear scientist Edward Teller, credited as the creator of the hydrogen bomb, the project would've buried and exploded 5 nukes on the coast of Alaska. Promoted as a way to instantly excavate land to form an inlet for a harbor to the Pacific, the project was really more about nuclear testing and experimentation.
Impacts on the environment and native people who relied on the impacted land for hunting and other necessities were not given much consideration by the Chariot's proponents.

Only when the researchers hired to study the potential effects of the explosions did the harm they could do become revealed. Well, initially those health hazards were downplayed or suppressed in reports released to the public and government officials. And those who pressed to publicize those dangers found themselves fired from their university jobs and blacklisted from others.

But eventually the native people and a growing environmental movement gained momentum to oppose Project Chariot, ultimately bringing it to a slow demise before any bombs could be buried.

Author Daniel O'Neill does an excellent job of exploring the multiple facets of this piece of history. Perspectives of natives, scientists, professors, activists, university administrators, and others all are given time in this retelling.

In addition to putting the story in the context of its post-WW2/Cold War time, O'Neill also uncovers once-classified information to expose what the public did not know back then. It's shocking the health and environmental danger this mad plan would've posed to the people of Alaska.

"The Firecracker Boys" is well-written with details and anecdotes showing the personalities of the people involved. The people, the terrain, the culture, the climate and the wildlife of Alaska are also established in the book.

It's a good read and I recommend it for people interested in nuclear history and ecology.

[Steve S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, I finished, 5 months later. That is primarily because it is non fiction and I generally find things I'd rather do than read (not on audiobook) a non fiction.

The book tells the story that is not well enough known of how the US government planned to use a nuclear bomb to create a harbor in Northern Alaska without knowing what the effects would be in the people or ecology of the region.

[Patrice La Vigne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book club pick, otherwise I wouldn't have chosen it. And in fact, I skimmed a lot of it to get the gist because it was just too long and too tedious for me.

[Olgalijo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living in Alaska, by the time I started to show interest about "The Firecracker Boys", a lot of the people I know had already read it. Most of them said that it was very interesting, but also dry. Iagree only partially with this statement. The story about American scientists wanting to blow up a hole (supposedly to make a harbor) on the coast of Alaska using nuclear bombs sounds almost taken out of a bad sci-fi story. So, knowing that this almost happened, and all the institutional lies that accompanied this "project" makes your blood run cold. The way in which some people actually lost their jobs fighting against this possible disaster makes one believe again in humankind.
It is true that there is an impressing amount of detail, scientific, social, and political, but the strength of the story makes for a very easy read. Thumbs up for Dan O'Neill.

[Robina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A relatively easy read for a potentially dense subject, this book delivers a well-researched account of a domestic nuclear project that is sadly under-reported. It was at times shocking to read about what government scientists thought was a reasonable plan to use nuclear excavation in Alaska in the 1960s.

[Danielle Brown-Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in Environmental issues, the Cold War, or just want to read a book of great about a non-publicized significant part of Alaska history this is the book for you. Fantastic read that shouldn't be missed.

[Ana_motzata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

[Susan Halvor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot.

[Daniel Hubbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an American born in the early 90's, it's hard to wrap my head around the centrality of nuclear weapons in the mid 20th Century. While they loom over our heads to this day as an apocalyptic sword of Damocles, they are now seen solely as weapons of annihilation. Perhaps most incongruous then is to picture a time when their use as peacetime problem solvers wasn't just seriously considering, but came dangerously close to enactment.

Dan O'Neill's fascinating book traces the history of Project Chariot, a subsidiary of the broader Atoms for Peace/discrete military testing program known as Project Plowshare. The idea, as originally proposed, would have used a series of H Bombs hundreds of times more potent than the bombs of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, to create an artificial harbor near the Inupiat community of Point Hope, Alaska. Similar to the irreparable and ongoing contamination caused in the Marshall Islands, the consequences of this explosion are almost beyond imagining.

At its heart the book is a story of grassroots resistance, a federal government division run amok, and a lot of overgrown children keen to make a tiny corner of America explode to satisfy their own curiosity. O'Neill's title does a great job of drawing attention to that final quality. Portions of this book are just absolutely staggering to read. Many pieces also feel extremely relevant today. As someone with experience working in Alaska, even in my time many projects have come and gone by parachuting into the state with little consultation or regard for Alaska's indigenous inhabitants. The mistakes made by Chariot continue to be made, year after year, often with real harm. Similarly the compromised nature of university funding rears an extremely ugly head in this book, another ongoing grievance that feels all too prescient.

Firecracker Boys is well worth the read, though occasionally O'Neill gets a little too wrapped up in the biographies of people involved, or wanders into a mental cul de sac for a few paragraphs discussing the potency of the bombs themselves. Best in this book is saved for the end, in the form of an extended post script which brings readers up to date and reminds us all that the past is nowhere near as distant as we think.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its earth-shattering that these atomic scientists agreed to fund a study of the environment and its use by humans for the purposes of planning the excavation of a harbor using buried nuclear bombs. The fact that no one needed a harbor in the seasonally ice-clogged waters above the Artic Circle did not stop them. The fact that detonating atomic bombs practically within sight of Russia during the Cold War did not faze them. The fact that they got university administrators to pressure, fire, and blackball the biologists doing the research, did not bother them. The fact they lied about the known health effects to the Inuit community living 30 miles away from ground zero did not trouble them (until they learned about the tapes). What did stop them was the report, which became the federal government's first environmental impact statement, its results which were leaked (those troublesome biologists), the formation of local environmental groups who fiercely lobbied the government at all levels, and the fact that environmental studies and public notice were not needed to conduct the same detonations in Nevada.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 1961 Atomic Energy Commission led by Edward Teller wanted to use a nuclear bomb to create a harbor not far from Point Hope, Alaska. The University of Alaska fired scientists whose research pointed to the risk to people and the environment.

O'Neill presents a shocking and comprehensive history of this episode: a good case study of how the promise of big federal spending beguiles - Alaska's biggest newspapers and the university failed to train a critical eye on this insane venture. Book also reports on racism that is stomach-turning but unsurprising: AEC spokesmen traveled to Point Hope and lied brazenly to villagers about the risks and history of nuclear explosions - unaware villagers were recording their session, the most gratifying revelation of the book. I would've liked more on the perspective from people in Point Hope. However, the book well illustrates the need for vigilance w/r/t unchecked development, ensuring academic freedom, and checking those who see Alaska as a 'barren wasteland' ripe for the deposit of toxic military waste.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mix together the unbridled optimism of the 1950s, blind faith in the United States government, and a government agency with unchecked powers and you end up with Project Chariot. At the dawn of a supposed Atomic Age, people were looking forward to cheap energy and peaceful applications of atomic energy. Sold as an economic development project, Project Chariot was going to use atomic explosions to blast out a chunk of the Alaskan coast to create an artificial harbor. If successful, this test project would lead to atomic bombs being used as excavating tools to move mountains and dig canals.

What the AEC did not count on was its own hired consultants finding grave risks to the ecology. And while Point Hope, Alaska seemed like a barren area to some it was the ancestral land of the Inupiat people. The successful efforts to thwart Project Chariot can be seen as a harbinger to 1960s activism for the earth and indigenous rights.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW, what an amazing book. And an outstanding piece of journalism AND oral history research. This is a part of Alaska history that I had never heard. I also enjoyed reading about the University of Alaska history that I did not know. Even though this book came out in 1994, some of the people mentioned in the very weighty Acknowledgements WERE STILL THERE in 2007 when I arrived to be a manager librarian at Rasmuson Library.

To sum up, if you're at all interested in nuclear science, biology, wildlife science, fisheries science, Alaska history, the beginning of environmental activism, Native American / Alaskan history, or the crucial importance of archives and records management to help us remember our history, you will like this book.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

How thorough! The author did a lot of research and has a lot of thoughts and so much made it into this book. It covers an impressive breadth of topics related to Project Chariot. I thought there would be a greater focus on specific Alaska Native figures, and there isn't that much on how this formed "the roots of the environmental movement"--at least not when compared to relatively long passages about intra-academic drama and the science behind the nuclear experiment (all important too, but kind of dry and not my favorite parts). But overall a wild and fascinating story I knew nothing about until moving to Alaska. Don't skip the methodology section either. Some of the most lyrical writing, hot takes, and some juicy details from his interview and research process show up in that chapter.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the late 1950’s, Edward Teller and the US Atomic Energy Commission (EAC) wanted to expand their testing beyond the Nevada desert and remote islands in the Pacific. Here’s a great idea - let’s use atomic bombs to create a deep harbor along the coast of Alaska. It will launch the use of atomic bombs for constructive, peaceful purposes. Never mind that the site they chose was nowhere near any major cities or anything worth shipping. Never mind that the site was close to an Eskimo community, and in the midst of their hunting grounds. What could possibly go wrong? Much of the book focuses on the community members and environmentalists who fought against the EAC.

[Peter Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly well researched, very easy to read, great way to learn a bit more about the mentality of nuclear testing in the moment... highly recommend. It's more than just the story of Edward Teller, in fact he's an important, but not necessarily central to the plot, because it more follows the community resistance efforts of a few key players (UA Fairbanks researchers contracted by the AEC to gather environmental data... a few members from the local community in question: Point Hope... a few outsiders who either fund/organize/spread the word, etc.) ...

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing description of the firecracker mentality of the department of energy, formally the atomic energy commission, and the historical lunacy of detonating bombs to create a harbor in remote Point Hope area in alaska. Men wanting freedom to blow up and contaminate, the lies they will tell, and the corruption behind it all. Sound familiar?

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Project Chariot is an extremely interesting one, and Dan O'Neill did the world a service by capturing so much of it and its influence on the environmental movement. That being said, it can jump around timelines a bit in order to stay on a specific subject, but which can make it a little hard to follow. If you have interest in nuclear testing and Alaska its worth a read.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

HUBRIS IS OUR FATAL FLAW. Read this paired with Under A White Sky for the folly of humans trying to construct nature to our designs. This book also serves as a reminder to pay attention and stay involved in your community, if you won't look out for yourself, some jackass with a growth mindset is going to bulldoze you.

[Matthew Brehm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on nuclear proliferation and scientific advancement into the political realm. This book covers a great deal of Alaskan statehood history, Inupiat Eskimo history, and US environmentalism and philosophy history.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly well-researched account of the origins of the US environmental movement, as well as an important history of a chapter in the country's "atomic era." Very informative (to the point of being dense, but I'm also not generally one for non-fiction).

[Sarah Bushman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend! It was more than I expected-a great history of the ‘little guy’ triumphing over the government and defense types of the 1950s, yes, but also an exploration of the early environmental movement, the ethics of science versus the arms industry, and the insidious nature of racism.

[Zen Cracker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 2004 and continue to recommend it on the regular. Alaska. Remote indigenous communities. Social movement via cassette tapes. Peaceful nuc usage. Environmental destruction. US government. University students. A must read.

[Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently weaves together tales of science, policy, government recklessness, and native culture while keeping the story at the scale of individual characters. I also really appreciated the additional context provided by the epilogue.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched book tells an incredible story of a plan to detonate an atomic weapon in Alaska. It tells of the study of the impact to the environment and Inupiat Eskimos and how a few men got the information out to others which helped seal the fate of Project Chariot.

[Steve Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story about what can happen with the unchecked arrogance of government. The most unfortunate part of the story is that it is all true.