It is the early 1950s. Kristen Iversen is enjoying a carefree childhood surrounded by desert and mountains. But just a few miles down the road, the US government decides to build a secret nuclear weapons facility at Rocky Flats.
Kirsten and her siblings jump streams, ride horses, live a happy outdoors life. But beneath this veneer her family is quietly falling apart. Her father drinks, her mother copes.
And in a series of fires, accidents and other catastrophic leaks, Rocky Flats nuclear plant is spewing an invisible cocktail of the most dangerous substances on earth into this pristine landscape. The ground, the air and the water are all alive with radiation.
The years that follow will bring protests, investigations, denials, cover-ups, threats and lies. And then, one after another, people start to fall ill.
'My family never talks about feelings, and we certainly never talk about plutonium...'
Kristen is enjoying a carefree childhood in a suburb near Denver, Colorado. Her home is surrounded by high desert and mountains. She loves swimming in the streams and riding horses.
Just a few miles the road, US govenment is building a a secret nuclear weapons facility. It will build the central component of of every one of the country's nuclear weapons.
Kristen's family is quietly falling apart. Her father drinks, her mother copes.
Just a few miles down the road, the nuclear plant is leaking an invisible cocktail of the most dangerous substances on earth. The ground, air and water are poisoned with radiation.
What comes next: protests, investigations, cover-ups, threats and lies. And then, one after another, people start to fall ill.
'One of the most important stories of the nuclear era. It's an essential and unforgettable book that should be talked about in schools and book clubs, online and in the White House' Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
'An intriguing mix of memoir and first-class investigative journalism... Mad Men meets Erin Brockovich' Independent
