Library Journal
One of several recent publications that reveal the extent to which Americans were poisoned by radiation after World War II, this work describes mining on the Navajo reservation from the late 1940s and early 1950s and then pursues its consequences into the 1990s. Eichstaedt follows the miners' quest for truth and compensation for widespread radiation contamination. Routinely exposed to radiation far in excess of safe levels and never informed, the miners began dying from mining-related illness within a few years of working in the mines. After long and frustrating battles, Congress finally passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990. Eichstaedt offers a well-documented, emotional account of the plight of the Navajos that complements Stewart Udall's The Myths of August (LJ 5/15/94) and Carole Gallagher's American Ground Zero (LJ 4/15/93). Recom-mended.-Randy Dykhuis, OHIONET, Columbus, Ohio
Booknews
This examination by a longtime reporter for the Santa Fe New Mexican effectively combines scientific, political, business, and tribal history, sketching the history and devastating results of uranium mining on Navajo lands in the Southwest. A cogent, powerful report on how America's frantic entry into the nuclear age injured--and continues to impact--Native Americans and their communities. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Mary Carroll
This examination by a longtime reporter for the Santa Fe "New Mexican" of the devastating consequences that the nation's love affair with the atom had for Native Americans in the Southwest provides further support for the grim story that Stewart Udall tells in "The Myths of August" (BKL Je 1 94). (Eichstaedt acknowledges Udall, a major player in Navajo uranium miners' long battle for compensation, as a source of both documents and "moral and spiritual guidance.") "If You Poison Us" effectively combines scientific, political, business, and tribal history, sketching "how uranium mining began on Indian lands . . . and how its deadly legacy still lingers. . . . " Although the suits that Udall and others brought on behalf of Native Americans ultimately failed, Congress in recent years has begun to take action. (Notably, legislation to date addresses "compensation" for uranium miners but not for those exposed to huge doses of radiation in uranium mills, and "cleanup" of uranium mills but not the hundreds of uranium mines scattered across Southwestern Native American land.) A cogent, powerful report on an unnecessary tragedy.
