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.”