Research Catalog
Radiation nation : Three Mile Island and the political transformation of the 1970s
- Title
- Radiation nation : Three Mile Island and the political transformation of the 1970s / Natasha Zaretsky.
- Author
- Zaretsky, Natasha, 1970-
- Publication
- New York : Columbia University Press, [2018]
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Book/Text | Use in library | JFE 18-2531 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- xix, 285 pages; 24 cm
- Summary
- "On March 28, 1979, the worst nuclear reactor accident in U.S. history occurred at the Three Mile Island power plant in Central Pennsylvania. Radiation Nation tells the story of what happened then and in the following months and years, as residents tried to make sense of the emergency. The near-meltdown occurred at a pivotal moment when the New Deal coalition was unraveling, trust in government was eroding, conservatives were consolidating their power, and the political left was becoming marginalized. Using the accident to explore this turning point, Natasha Zaretsky provides a fresh interpretation of the era by disclosing how atomic and ecological imaginaries shaped the conservative ascendancy. Drawing on the testimony of the men and women who lived in the shadow of the reactor, Radiation Nation shows that the region's citizens, especially its mothers, grew convinced that they had sustained radiological injuries that threatened their reproductive futures. Taking inspiration from the antiwar, environmental, and feminist movements, women at Three Mile Island crafted a homegrown ecological politics that wove together concerns over radiological threats to the body, the struggle over abortion and reproductive rights, and eroding trust in authority. This politics was shaped above all by what Zaretsky calls "biotic nationalism," a new body-centered nationalism that imagined the nation as a living, mortal being and portrayed sickened Americans as evidence of betrayal. The first cultural history of the accident, Radiation Nation reveals the surprising ecological dimensions of post-Vietnam conservatism while showing how growing anxieties surrounding bodily illness infused the political realignment of the 1970s in ways that blurred any easy distinction between left and right."--Provided by publisher.
- Alternative Title
- Three Mile Island and the political transformation of the 1970s
- Subjects
- Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant (Pa.) Accidents > Social aspects
- Nuclear power plants > Accidents > Pennsylvania > Harrisburg Region
- Radiation injuries > Social aspects > United States
- Conservatism > Environmental aspects > United States
- Nationalism > United States > History > 20th century
- Political ecology > United States > History > 20th century
- United States > Politics and government > 1977-1981
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Contents
- The culture of dissociation and the rise of the unborn -- The accident and the political transformation of the 1970s -- Creating a community of fate at Three Mile Island -- The second Cold War and the extinction threat -- Conclusion.
- Call Number
- JFE 18-2531
- ISBN
- 9780231179812
- 0231179812
- 9780231179805
- 0231179804
- LCCN
- 2017038412
- OCLC
- 1007501139
- Author
- Zaretsky, Natasha, 1970- author.
- Title
- Radiation nation : Three Mile Island and the political transformation of the 1970s / Natasha Zaretsky.
- Publisher
- New York : Columbia University Press, [2018]
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Research Call Number
- JFE 18-2531