Bombs Over Bikini: The World’s First Nuclear Disaster - ADVISABLE

Goldsmith, Connie Bombs Over Bikini: The World’s First Nuclear Disaster, 81 p. NONFICTION.  Twenty-First Century Books, 2014.  $25.  Content: G.  

Starting 1954, the American military detonated three nuclear bombs near the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.  They moved all of the former inhabitants of the island about 125 miles away, but for the sailors, the islanders and even their descendants, the nuclear tests at Bikini have had devastating effects  that have rendered Bikini and Rongelap uninhabitable even today.  

I found the book fascinating reading.  The only thing I really don’t understand is why they call this the world’s first nuclear disaster, since the incidents can after the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Goldsmith does a fantastic job of bringing light to a long-term problem that has pretty much disappeared from the world’s consciousness.  It would be a good personal choice for many students and a good research choice for a modern history class.  

MS, HS – ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher.