Atomic

August 14 – Rotary Club of Minden program includes local Author- Michon Mackedon

05 Jul 2012 By Black Rock Institute

Michon Mackedon is scheduled to speak on August 14, 2012 at Rotary Club of Minden, Nevada meeting.  Michon is the Author of Bombast: Spinning Atoms in the Desert (2010).Courtesy of the U.S. Department of EnergyThe Minden Rotary Club meets Tuesdays at 12:00 PM, at the Carson Valley Inn – 1627 Hwy 395 N. – Minden, Nevada.Bombast: Spinning Atoms in the Desert is a crucial linchpin in Atomic Revival studies. Michon Mackedon recounts Nevada’s relationship with the nuclear industry and a host of players including the Atomic Energy Commission, the Department of Energy, scientists, military men, and journalists. With “an awareness born of deceit” shared by other Nevadans, Mackedon considers the manipulated language and imagery doled out by the atomic industry to make the unsafe appear safe and the unthinkable, thinkable. This second book published by Black Rock Institute Press is an environmentally charged survey of nuclear culture in the “Silver State.” Augmented with “Atomic Pop” images of the nuclear era, this book is an ironic, dead-serious, no-holds barred post-mortem that lights up Nevada’s nuclear industry.

WNC NEWS & NOTES: Former professor’s book seeks to stimulate conversation

01 Feb 2011 By Black Rock Institute

From the Nevada Appeal, Sunday, October 10, 2010:  According to Western Nevada College Emeritus English Professor Michon Mackedon,“If you place on a map of Nevada ‘X’s to mark areas used for nuclear testing and ‘O’s to mark areas examined as potential nuclear sites, you end up with a tic-tac-toe game board in the shape of the Silver State.”

Continue reading “WNC NEWS & NOTES: Former professor’s book seeks to stimulate conversation”

Bombast in Book Talk – Reno News & Review

10 Oct 2010 By Black Rock Institute

Book Talk
By Dennis Myers, Reno News & Review
This article was published on 09.30.10.

“At a time when publishing is in a sharp decline, the publication of nonfiction books on Nevada seems to be booming:

Bombast by Michon Mackedon — Years ago, Mackedon got interested in Nevada’s nuclear history when she researched and wrote about the only atomic test that took place outside the Nevada Proving Ground, a 1963 test near Mackedon’s home town of Fallon. She has continued her research and now has a book on a broader topic. She examines the impact of nuclear weaponry and its testing on our culture, environment and economy. Features of towns like Richland, Wash., and Moab, Utah, that embraced atomic technology in their 1950s economies and lived to regret it in their present ecologies are covered. So are manipulation of the language in the service of the atom and facets of our culture and economy that market “Our friend the atom” to this day, as with Nestle’s Nuclear Chocolate and Nuclear Sour Neon Gummi Worms. One of the most prophetic was the crowning of a beauty queen for a 1955 nuclear test code named “Cue.” The queen was named Miss Cue.”

Book Signing: Sept. 28 at Churchill County Museum, Fallon, NV

23 Sep 2010 By Black Rock Institute

Fallon author Michon Mackedon will sign copies of her recently released book “Bombast: Spinning Atoms in the Desert” in Fallon, NV.

She will launch her Nevada book tour on Sept. 28 with a 7:30 presentation at the Churchill County Museum at 1050 S. Maine St.

“The book has been called a “linchpin for Atomic Revival studies.”

New York writer Dennis Smith, author of “Report From Ground Zero” and “San Francisco is Burning,” said Mackedon conveys the style of John McPhee’s classical New Yorker pieces.

He added “in a fluid seamless, and compelling narration (Mackedon) goes on to tell a very full story of Nevada’s history of nuclear testing, nuclear waste storage, patriotic controversies, political posturing in cahoots with the p.r. men in gray flanned suits, radiation poisonings, and Orwellian inventions meant as much to deceive as to convince … If you are moved by exceptional writing, then you will love this book.””  Published in the online Lahontan Valley News.  lahontanvalleynews.com

This lecture/conversation also sponsored by Nevada Humanities.

September 16th Book Signing in Reno at 6:30

10 Sep 2010 By Black Rock Institute

Join us Thursday, September 16th at Sundance Bookstore for a book signing with Michon Mackedon, author of Bombast Spinning Atoms in the Desert.

Bombast represents a crucial linchpin in Atomic Revival studies, including many novel sources and a gallery of “Atomic Pop” by Peter Goin.