New WSU book explores Hanford legacies and the Manhattan Project

A collection of compositions exploring the complex repercussions of the Manhattan Project has been published by Washington State University Press.

Born from the Hanford History Project’s March 2017 “Legacies of the Manhattan Project at 75 Years” conference, the book combines revised essays first presented there with newly commissioned research.

Presentations focusing on the legacies of the Hanford nuclear reservation and other Manhattan Project projects were given by working scientists, government employees, retired health physicists, downwinders, university scholars and others.

The new book, “Legacies of the Manhattan Project: Reflections on 75 Years of a Nuclear World” covers topics such as newspaper censorship, activism, nuclear testing, environmental cleanup and atomic kitsch.

It was edited by Michael Mays, director of the Hanford History Project at WSU Tri-Cities.

“The compositions delve deep into familiar matters, but also illuminate historical crevices left unexplored by earlier generations of scholars,” according to WSU Press. “In the process, they demonstrate how the Manhattan Project lives on.”

It is the second book in a series of Hanford histories being published by WSU Press. The first, “Nowhere to Remember,” covers the agriculture communities of Hanford, White Bluffs and Richland that were evacuated during World War II for a secret project to produce plutonium for atomic bombs.

The newest book sells for $32.95 and can be purchased from bookstores or online book sellers or direct from WSU Press at wsupress.wsu.edu or by calling 800-354-7360.

This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 12:54 PM.