Journalist • Historian • New York Times bestselling author: EVERYBODY BEHAVES BADLY and FALLOUT • Coming in 2026: A DEVIL’S BARGAIN
Sep 25, 2022 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
I had never cried when doing an interview before. After 5 years of researching and writing about nuclear attack and aftermath, I thought that didn’t have nerves left in my body. I was wrong. 🧵 /1/
When I spoke w/ Claudia Peterson of Cedar City, Utah, she told me about growing up in the shadow of atomic tests at the Nevada Testing Site, @ 175 miles away. There were 100 aboveground tests. The blast flashes & mushroom clouds on the horizon were regular occurrences. /2/
Sep 23, 2022 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
OTD in 1992: the U.S. conducts the last nuclear test - codenamed “Divider”- before a testing moratorium. Will that testing halt stay in place? The Biden admin says yes - for now. 🧵/1/
To commemorate the last test’s anniversary, I wrote this @NatGeo story on the legacy and costs of half a century of testing, and what’s at stake with keeping the moratorium in place. /2/
Sep 22, 2022 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Did you know that the U.S. tested nukes in Mississippi? And Colorado? How about that time U.S. officials tested a five megaton device in Alaska? It was 333x as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. 🧵/1/
Between 1945 and 1992, the United States conducted 1,054 nuclear tests across the country and in the Pacific. The testing program cost more than $100 billion; the human and environmental costs have been incalculable. /2/
