Bomb in the Wilderness

John O'Brian is an art historian, writer, and curator. Until 2017, he taught at the University of British Columbia. He has authored or edited twenty books, including Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism – one of The New York Times Notable Books of the Year – and Ruthless Hedonism. His publications on nuclear photography include Strangelove's Weegee, Camera Atomica, Through Post-Atomic Eyes, and Atomic Postcards: Radioactive Messages from the Cold War. He has organized five exhibitions on nuclear photography, in Copenhagen, London, Toronto, and Vancouver, and is a recipient of the Thakore Award in Human Rights and Peace Studies from Simon Fraser University.

• Preface: Radioactive FootprintsIntroduction: Still Photographs1 Nuclear Industry2 Chalk River3 Cold War Defence4 Cloud Shadows5 Atomic Soldiers6 Mass Protest7 Camera TargetsEpilogue: Deadpan PicturesAtomic TimelineNotes, Selected Bibliography, Index

O'Brian's history of Canada's involvement in the nuclear story forms an eye-opening reminder that, however we perceive the world, our individual view is never the whole picture. - Peter M. Sramek, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Art (Photography), OCAD University (University of Toronto Quarterly) Art historian O'Brian has brought together all his powers of observation and perception to help us rethink how we view the history and the mystery of the bomb.- Ron Verzuh, author of Codename Project 9: How a Small British Columbia City Helped Create the Atomic Bomb (The Ormsby Review) Employing an accessible yet scholarly approach, O'Brian does scholars of environmental, nuclear, and Cold War-era visual culture a great service as he brings together images and ideas in an interconnected web of analysis that complicates the chronological narrative of events, [showing] us that photography may either alert us to nuclear risk or numb us to its dangers. - Karla McManus, University of Regina (BC Studies)