UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Overall, Bombast is quite accessible to the average reader. Mackedon uses an engaging, logical style of writing that holds the attention of her readers. She glides easily from topics such as site choice decisions to the testing period itself, all the way through to present-day waste site determination. The illustrations and side commentary add much to an already entertaining narrative. Each side note addresses the irony of the atomic age, whether in culture, politics, or a combination of the two. While Mackedon is not the first to discuss atomic rhetoric, she does present the most extensive overview of the language used to promote nuclear weapons. She articulates the ironies of the AEC’s choice of humanizing or affectionate names for such a violent technology. Mackedon also addresses the consistent pattern of AEC responses to public concern over the side effects of testing and fallout. This was accomplished through the use of press releases and discussions of “site suitability,” “sound science,” and “expert” opinion, strategies that stretch even to modern times; little has changed in the language used to calm public fear, and, as demonstrated by Mackedon’s research, it doesn’t seem as though it will any time soon. KATHERINE GOOD Virginia Tech
BOOK NOTICES They Call It Home:The Southeastern Utah Collection. By Ken Hochfeld and Gary L. Shumway. (The authors, n.p., 2013. v + 105 pp. Cloth, $45.00.)
Through half-page black-and-white images, this picture profile book provides a charming look at San Juan County and its residents. Ken Hochfeld captured the images in 1972–1973 when he was a student at California State University Fullerton. Hochfeld spent time in the community getting to know the residents for his project and that is evident in the comfortable, natural way they responded to his camera. Years later, Gary L. Shumway, a southeastern Utahn, produced brief biographical or historical notes to accompany some of the photographs. Shumway notes in the introduction that—as a rough, dry place—southeastern Utah was not a desirable spot to settle, but that those who did created a sense of home and community. The goal of the book is to convey that feeling through the daily lives
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