Doom Town, USA

“This journey to America’s ground zero will not disappoint. Beautifully written and filled with deep reflections about the atomic age, Doom Town, USA reveals the ways in which the smoldering ruins of Nevada have haunted popular culture from the mid-1950s until the present day.“—Ian Klinke, coauthor of Human Geography: A Very Short Introduction

”Doom Town USA offers a fascinating picture of the Doom Town atomic tests of 1953 and 1955, describing the efforts of the Federal Civilian Defense Administration as it sought to motivate an unenthusiastic population to prepare for potential nuclear attack. Wills explains everything from the FDCA’s initial conceptions of the Doom Town projects, to the corporate cooperation elicited by the FDCA, and the project’s relation to 1950s consumerism. He paints a fascinating picture of Doom Town as a simulacra of American life and shows how that then became the basis for so many other simulacra in the form of movies, television shows, and video games that gave us Doom Towns’ after-life.“—Elyssa Faison, coeditor of Resisting the Nuclear: Art and Activism across the Pacific

“An insightful, deeply researched and entertaining new history of atomic culture. Richly detailed and grounded in the lived experience of nuclear testing, Doom Town, USA reveals the complex relationship between Cold War science and American life and culture. Excellent.“—Andy Kirk, author of Doom Towns: The People and Landscapes of Atomic Testing

“A must-read for anyone interested in the everyday realities of nuclear America, the book transforms the lifeless mannequin families of suburban test houses—long frozen in silence—into voices that reveal how Cold War America imagined survival in an atomic age.“—Thomas Bishop, author of Every Home a Fortress: Cold War Fatherhood and the Family Fallout Shelter

John Wills is Professor of American Media and Culture at the University of Kent. He is the author of several books, including Conservation Fallout: Nuclear Protest At Diablo Canyon and Gamer Nation: Video Games and American Culture.