Radiation Nation: Three Mile Island and the Political Transformation of the 1970s

On March 28, 1979, the Three Mile Island power plant in Central Pennsylvania had the worst nuclear reactor accident in U.S. history. Radiation Nation by Natasha Zaretsky explores the era's turning point, revealing how atomic and ecological imaginaries shaped the conservative ascendancy. The region's citizens, especially its mothers, believed they had sustained radiological injuries that threatened their reproductive futures. Women at Three Mile Island crafted a homegrown ecological politics that wove together concerns over radiological threats to the body, the struggle over abortion and reproductive rights, and eroding trust in authority. This politics was shaped by biotic nationalism, a new body-centered nationalism that imagined the nation as a living, mortal being and portrayed sickened Americans as evidence of betrayal.

Format: Hardback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 13 February 2018
Publisher: Columbia University Press

The Three Mile Island power plant in Central Pennsylvania experienced the most severe nuclear reactor accident in American history on March 28, 1979. Radiation Nation recounts the events of that day and the months and years that followed as local residents grappled with the emergency. The near-meltdown occurred at a crucial juncture when the New Deal coalition was unraveling, trust in government was eroding, conservatives were consolidating their power, and the political left was becoming marginalized. By examining the accident through the lens of atomic and ecological imaginaries, Natasha Zaretsky offers a fresh interpretation of the era.

Drawing on the testimony of the men and women who lived in the shadow of the reactor, Radiation Nation demonstrates that the region's citizens, particularly its mothers, became convinced that they had sustained radiological injuries that threatened their reproductive futures. Women at Three Mile Island drew inspiration from the antiwar, environmental, and feminist movements to craft a homegrown ecological politics that intertwined concerns over radiological threats to the body, the struggle over abortion and reproductive rights, and eroding trust in authority.

Zaretsky identifies biotic nationalism as the driving force behind this politics, which envisioned the nation as a living, mortal being and portrayed sickened Americans as evidence of betrayal. Radiation Nation serves as the first cultural history of the accident, revealing the surprising ecological dimensions of post-Vietnam conservatism while illustrating how growing anxieties surrounding bodily illness infused the political realignment of the 1970s in ways that blurred any easy distinction between left and right.

Weight: 544g
Dimension: 158 x 236 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231179805