rebecca2023's review against another edition
4.0
"God in heaven, what have we done?" was my response to the book. Not for the feint of heart.
The residents around Rocky Flats spend decades pretending that the plutonium processing plant in the vicinity really just makes cleaning solutions, "scrubbing bubbles." The truth is too terrifying. Plus, the pay at the plant is good. You can even earn fifteen extra cents an hour for working in the "hot zone". When Iverson visits a doctor as an adult and wonders if her health condition could be connected to the radiation exposure she experienced in her neighborhood growing up, the doctor tells her that "you can't worry about that." The issue of nuclear waste and contamination of the environment is so overwhelming that many people really would like to turn a blind eye. We have created a situation that will persist for thousands, if not millions of years.
Iverson examines the decades of environmental catastrophe around Rocky Flats from myriad perspectives. The most riveting to me was her own memoir, which is intertwined with the larger corporate and governmental story. We also learn the story of the head of the operation, who earned millions of dollars of year while polluting the environment beyond repair. We learn a bit about the activists who protested at the site, and a lawyer who devoted his life to the cause of bringing justice to the residents of Rocky Flats. Iverson also provides us with insights into the lives of the people who worked at the plant, a large majority who developed devastating illnesses.
Iverson herself spent much of her life adhering to the culture of a code of silence. Now, with this meticulously researched book, she no longer turns away from the reality of the environmental devastation at Rocky Flats, and neither can we.
The residents around Rocky Flats spend decades pretending that the plutonium processing plant in the vicinity really just makes cleaning solutions, "scrubbing bubbles." The truth is too terrifying. Plus, the pay at the plant is good. You can even earn fifteen extra cents an hour for working in the "hot zone". When Iverson visits a doctor as an adult and wonders if her health condition could be connected to the radiation exposure she experienced in her neighborhood growing up, the doctor tells her that "you can't worry about that." The issue of nuclear waste and contamination of the environment is so overwhelming that many people really would like to turn a blind eye. We have created a situation that will persist for thousands, if not millions of years.
Iverson examines the decades of environmental catastrophe around Rocky Flats from myriad perspectives. The most riveting to me was her own memoir, which is intertwined with the larger corporate and governmental story. We also learn the story of the head of the operation, who earned millions of dollars of year while polluting the environment beyond repair. We learn a bit about the activists who protested at the site, and a lawyer who devoted his life to the cause of bringing justice to the residents of Rocky Flats. Iverson also provides us with insights into the lives of the people who worked at the plant, a large majority who developed devastating illnesses.
Iverson herself spent much of her life adhering to the culture of a code of silence. Now, with this meticulously researched book, she no longer turns away from the reality of the environmental devastation at Rocky Flats, and neither can we.
rachelv111's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed this book for the local history and general overview of what went on in and around Rocky Flats, but I would have enjoyed something a bit more rigorous with the details.
redroofcolleen's review against another edition
3.0
Fascinating and terrifying account of the goings on at Rocky Flats, made ever more terribly by the fact that I grew up 7.5 miles downwind. I could have done without much of the personal narrative.
erynelle's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
louisejulig's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Part memoir, part investigative journalism, it tells the intertwined stories of Iversen’s family and the nearby plant most residents thought manufactured cleaning supplies, but in fact was a factory for plutonium “triggers” for nuclear bombs. The author shows hows the long shadows the twin secrets her father’s alcoholism and the Rocky Flats weapons plant cast over both her family life and the community of this Denver suburb. Superbly written and thoroughly researched, it is a page-turner and a powerhouse of a book.
jackieeubank's review
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This book is a well laid out story of the Author's life and how it coincided with the mishandled and often covered up goings on at the Rocky Flats nuclear facility. It's a haunting story packed full of statistics and information that would be unquestionably damning if the burden of taking action didn't fall on the very entity that made it all happen - the US government.
dipali17's review against another edition
4.0
This is amazing and so well-written! The juxtaposition of the author’s family life along with the history of Rocky Flats makes this a hard hitting yet deeply emotional account. I was in tears by the end of the book.