51¶¯Âþ

In the shadow of radiation and decay

By Michael Marshall

13 June 2012

grew up close to a nuclear weapons factory. The plant in Colorado was the only US site that built plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs: chunks of radioactive metal about the size of a softball.

In her superb memoir, , Iversen interweaves her own compelling autobiography with a history of Rocky Flats. Her prose combines perceptive lyricism and stark brutality.

Iversen struggled with an alcoholic father and a mother in denial, and found solace riding horses far out into the Colorado wilds. She paid little attention to Rocky Flats until she took a job there,…

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