The Highway of the Atom

By (author) Peter van Wyck
Categories: History
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Hardcover : 9780773537835, 288 pages, October 2010

Description

A subarctic mine on the far eastern shores of Great Bear Lake provided Canadian uranium for the bombs detonated over Japan in August 1945. However, a complete history of Canada's involvement in the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb has been thwarted by restrictions on classified documents.

Reviews

"The Highway of the Atom is far more than a history of colonial deceit and ethical disaster; it is also a wake-up call for Canadians who need to know that the deceit and the disaster are continuing right now. " Topia

"The Highway of the Atom is a tour de force and belongs on the same shelf with Kenzaburo Oe's Hiroshima Notes, John Hersey's Hiroshima, and Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb. The author has read everything there is to read, spent countless hours in archives, and visited many of the places and people referred to in the book, though he never lets his research dominate the story. The book contains so many telling phrases and telling insights that the reader will want to concentrate not only on what van Wyck is saying but also on how well he is saying it. " -John O'Brian, Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory, University of British Columbia