The Firecracker Boys

In the late 1950s, the U.S. Government touted atoms for peace; the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and its research arm, the Livermore National Laboratory (LNL) envisioned changing the face of the earth with atomic blasts that would gouge out canals and harbors, move mountains and deflect ocean currents. Edward Teller, director of the LNL, proposed ``Project Chariot'' to create an instant deepwater harbor at Cape Thompson in northwest Alaska by detonating several thermonuclear bombs. The site was about 30 miles from Point Hope, the oldest continually occupied settlement in North America and home to some 50 native households. Representatives from the AEC and LNL (including Teller) flocked to Alaska to sell the project, assuring residents that it would be safe and promising that the project would be scrapped if environmental studies indicated danger. O'Neill, an oral historian at the University of Alaska, gives an engrossing, well-documented account of events that led to cancellation of the project. He deftly tells a sorry story of government mendacity and deception and an inspiring tale of courageous opposition by local residents, early environmental activists and scientists willing to risk their careers to stop the plan. (July)