Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen

An intimate and deeply human memoir that shows why we should all be concerned about nuclear safety, and the dangers of ignoring science in the name of national security.--Rebecca Skloot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

A shocking account of the government's attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic waste released by a secret nuclear weapons plant in Colorado and a community's vain search for justice--soon to be a feature documentary

Kristen Iversen grew up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant once designated the most contaminated site in America. Full Body Burden is the story of a childhood and adolescence in the shadow of the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly beautiful and--unknown to those who lived there--tainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium. It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets--both family and government. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what was made at Rocky Flats--best not to inquire too deeply into any of it. But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions and discovered some disturbing realities.

Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book is both captivating and unnerving.

Iversen, Kristen: - Kristen Iversen is the author of Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats, winner of the Colorado Book Award and the Reading the West Book Award, and chosen one of the Best Books of 2012 by Kirkus Reviews, the American Library Association, and Mother Jones Magazine, and 2012 Best Book about Justice by The Atlantic. Selected by more than a dozen universities across the country for their First Year Experience/Common Read programs, Full Body Burden was also a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. Iversen is also the author of Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth, winner of the Colorado Book Award and the Barbara Sudler Award for Nonfiction, and a textbook, Shadow Boxing: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, Reader's Digest, Fourth Genre, and many other publications. She has appeared on C-Span and NPR's Fresh Air and worked extensively with A&E Biography, The History Channel, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and in 2014 was the recipient of the award for Distinguished Achievement in the Creative Arts from The University of Memphis. She holds a PhD from the University of Denver, and currently heads the PhD program in Creative Nonfiction at the University of Cincinnati. Kristen Iversen has two sons and currently lives in Cincinnati.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780307955630
ISBN 10	030795563X
Title	Full Body Burden
Author	Kristen Iversen
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Year published	2012-06-05
Number of pages	400
Prizes	Winner of Reading the West (Nonfiction) 2012, Winner of ALA Notable Books (Nonfiction) 2013, Winner of Colorado Book Award (General Nonfiction) 2013, Commended for Discover Great New Writers (Nonfiction) 2012
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.