Operation Crossroads: The Atomic Tests at Bikini Atoll

by Jonathan M. Weisgall

Weisgall (law, Georgetown U.) is the legal counsel for the people of Bikini and provides the first non-government account of the two atomic bomb tests on the Pacific island in 1946. He thinks that they were not a good idea, and argues that the government knew that at the time. He was also the executive producer of the film Radio Bikini . Includes lots of photographs. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

415 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1994

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Operation Crossroads had all the trappings of a three-rig circus. It was to be the contest between the atom bomb and the battleship, two heavyweights slugging it out in the Pacific. Behind all the hoopla, though, was a horrifying, sinister lesson in warfare: Radioactive fallout was a new weapon of terror. As with chemical and biological warfare, it can wipe out entire cities and, to magnify the terror, its victims cannot smell it, touch it, feel it, see it or hear it. It casts its net over a huge area, catching anything in its way, but its time of impact, unlike a bullet or a missile, is not specific or limited. Like a bomb that never stops exploding, its effects can be felt days, weeks, or years later. It is a weapon of biological extinction, truly designed more for genocide than for the destruction of buildings or military targets. Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed that the instant blast and heat of an atomic bomb can kill tens of thousands of people in a matter of seconds. The story of Operation Crossroads, and the Bravo shot eight years later is that the killing power of lingering radioactive fallout far surpases the instant sledge-hammer effect of the bomb blast.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review at http://znovels.blogspot.com/2011/03/o....