The highway of the atom / Peter C. van Wyck.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van Wyck, Peter C.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Uranium mines and mining--Northwest Territories--Port Radium--History.

Uranium mines and mining.

Atomic bomb--History.

Atomic bomb.

Chipewyan Indians--Northwest Territories--Great Bear Lake--Social conditions.

Chipewyan Indians.

Nuclear industry--Canada--History.

Nuclear industry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca [N.Y.] : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"A subarctic mine on the far eastern shores of Great Bear Lake provided Canadian uranium for the bombs detonated over Japan in August 1945. However, a complete history of Canada's involvement in the Manhattan project and the development of the atomic bomb has been thwarted by restrictions on classified documents. [This book] overcomes these restrictions in an innovative and unconventional history that assembles a narrative from fragments -- interviews, indigenous stories, archives, and physical remains -- while questioning whether it is possible to grasp the past by sifting through what remains. Uncovering the story of the radioactive ore's route from mine to weapon of mass destruction, Peter van Wyck considers the legacy of this history for the Dene community and inquires into trauma, landscape, disaster, and memory. ... weaves together crucial missing pieces about the beginning of the Atomic Age in startling and unexpected ways."--Book jacket.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Images

Acknowledgments

1

Field Note: Great Bear Lake – 30 July 2003

Archive

Tracking Stories

History

Writing

Map

Theory

Field Note: Apology – November 2002

The Route

A Gentle Compulsiveness

Material

Village of Widows

2

Punctum

Rice Christians – Who knew?

Cargo Cult

Magic

Field Note: Two Contrasting Figures – May 2003

Field Note: Tulita – 6 August 2003

The Idea of North

Naming

Field Note: Yellowknife, Explorer Hotel – August 2003

Field Note: Northern Metaphor – Norway Point,

February 2005

Field Note: Landscape – Yellowknife, August 2007

Field Note: Tigullapaa – Nuuk, Greenland, 25 August

2008

Field Note: Norway Point – April 2009

Abduction

Birth Order

Vision

Meanwhile

Radium

Sum and Remainder

3

Finding Aids

Field Note: Cobalt-Bloom and Copper-Green – Echo Bay, 2003

Pitchblende

Congo

White Myth

Oh Canada – More Silence

Field Note: Cameron Bay – August 2003

Field Note: Bewilderment – Déline, 2003

Field Note: Grey Goose Inn, Déline – 25 July 2003

Field Note: Arctic Circle (66°32´) - 1 August 2005

Chorography

Field Note: Port Radium – 30 July 2003

Field Note: Déline – August 2003

4

The Stones Are Speaking Now

Phantoms

Alibi

Lieux de Mémoire: A Mnemonics of Catastrophe

Abduction and the Accident

Shipwreck with Raven

Field Note: New Mexico – February 2004

From Figure to Metaphor

Spectator

Ecology

Story

Erasure, Redux

Equivalence

Field Note: Black River – 3 August 2005

Field Note: Mackenzie River – 3 August 2005

Field Notes in the Margins

Field Note: Tulita (Fort Norman) – 6 August 2005

Field Note: Tsiigehtchic (Arctic Red River) – 6 August 2005

Problems

Field Note: (The Gift) Déline – February 2003

Notes to part 1

Notes to part 2

Notes to part 3

Notes to part 4

Bibliography

Image credits

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613842657

9780773581401

0773581405

9781283530200

1283530201

9780773580879

0773580875

OCLC:

772441416