Nuking Alaska: Notes of an Atomic Fugitive

In the midcentury Alaska, the creator of the graphic novel "My Degeneration: A Journey Through Parkinsons" presents a humorous tale of life during the Cold War, recounting the nuclear threats faced by Alaskans, including Project Chariot, the Great Alaskan Earthquake, and the 1971 test of a nuclear warhead on Amchitka. The graphic novel, drawn in Dunlap-Shohl's characteristic editorial cartooning style, serves as a reminder of how close we came to total annihilation and how relevant the nuclear threat remains today.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 104 pages
Publication date: 27 June 2023
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press

From the acclaimed author of the critically-acclaimed graphic novel My Degeneration: A Journey Through Parkinson's comes an unsettlingly humorous tale of life in Alaska during the most tense times of the Cold War. Peter Dunlap-Shohl grew up on the front lines of the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s, where Alaskan residents lived in the shadow of a nuclear arsenal nine times the size of the Soviet Union. This graphic novel recounts the surprising and tragicomic details of the nuclear threats faced by Alaskans, including Project Chariot, championed by Edward Teller and his "firecracker boys" in the late 1950s and early 1960s; the nearly nuclear disaster caused by the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964; and the 1971 test of a nuclear warhead on the island of Amchitka. Dunlap-Shohl shares the terrible consequences that these events and others had for humans and animals alike, all in the service of "atoms for peace." Drawn with Dunlap-Shohl's characteristic editorial cartooning style, Nuking Alaska is a fast-paced reminder of how close we came to total annihilation just a half-century ago—and how terribly relevant the nuclear threat remains to this day.

Weight: 340g
Dimension: 216 x 165 x 7 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781637790472