The First Atomic Bomb: The Trinity Site in New Mexico (America's Public Lands)

Named a 2024 Southwest Book of the Year by Pima County Public LibraryOn July 16, 1945, just weeks before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that brought about the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II, the United States unleashed the world's first atomic bomb at the Trinity testing site located in the remote Tularosa Valley in south central New Mexico.Immensely more powerful than any weapon the world had seen, the bomb's effects on the surrounding and downwind communities of plants, animals, birds, and humans have lasted decades. In The First Atomic Bomb Janet Farrell Brodie explores the history of the Trinity test and those whose contributions have rarely, if ever, been discussed-the men and women who constructed, served, and witnessed the first test-as well as the downwinders who suffered the consequences of the radiation.Concentrating on these ordinary people, laborers, ranchers, and Indigenous peoples who lived in the region and participated in the testing, Brodi