No Place to Hide (Bradley book)

No Place to Hide is a 1948 book by American writer David J. Bradley published by Little, Brown and Company. The book is a Harvard Medical School graduate's autobiographical tale of his work in the Radiological Safety Section in the Pacific in the aftermath of the Bikini atomic bomb tests, Operation Crossroads. The book alerted the world to the dangers of radioactive fallout from nuclear weapon explosions.[1][2] The book was marketed for Bantam by Judith Merril, who found Bradley's prose "a man's book with little appeal for women", leading her to later write her own nuclear war story Shadow on the Hearth from the homemaker's perspective.[3] Bradley toured lecturing on the dangers of fallout, including a 1950 lecture at Ford Hall Forum.

Cover of first edition.

The book was reissued with an epilogue in 1984.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ Robert A. Jacobs The Dragon's Tail: Americans Face the Atomic Age -- 2010 Page 31 "David Bradley's influential 1948 record of Operation Crossroads, No Place to Hide, was essentially a book about fallout. "What happened at Crossroads was the clearest measure yet of the menace of atomic energy," Bradley wrote."
  2. ^ Patrick Major, Rana Mitter, Across the Blocs: Exploring Comparative Cold War Cultural 1135755671 2004 "The continuing debate over the consequences of nuclear explosions was entered by David Bradley in 1948 whose No Place to Hide was written in opposition to bland government reassurances that there was no need for the public to worry ..."
  3. ^ Dianne Newell, Victoria Lamont Judith Merril: A Critical Study 2012 Page 34 0786489855 "Merril concludes that Bradley's No Place to Hide was, in truth, “a man's book, with little appeal for women,” adding that “few women have read it or will, because the technique you used for relief from strain, the tropical isle stuff, fishing, etc.. "
  4. ^ Review - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Nov. 1983 "As the author explained in an interview at Dartmouth College on June 8, 1983, the writing of No Place to Hide was a response to this lack of concern and awareness, aided by the early interest in the project expressed by the Atlantic Monthly "