Photographs link the nuclear past and nuclear present, shaping the public's perception of events. What can they reveal about Canada's nuclear footprint?

The Bomb in the Wilderness contends that photography is central to how we have represented, interpreted, and remembered nuclear activities since 1945. During the Second World War, Canada was a member of the Manhattan Project, the consortium that developed the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The impact and global reach of Canada's nuclear programs has been felt ever since. But do photographs alert viewers to nuclear threat, numb them to its dangers, or by some strange calculus accomplish both?

John O'Brian's wide-ranging and personal account of the nuclear era presents and discusses more than a hundred photographs, ranging from military images to the atomic ephemera of consumer culture. We need this fascinating analysis, to ensure that we do not look away.

The Bomb in the Wilderness is an acutely perceptive analysis of Canada's nuclear footprint through the medium of photography, revealing how we have represented, interpreted, and remembered nuclear activities since 1945.

About the Author

John O'Brian is an art historian, writer, and curator. Until 2017, he taught at the University of British Columbia. He has authored or edited twenty books, including Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism - one of The New York Times Notable Books of the Year - and Ruthless Hedonism. His publications on nuclear photography include Strangelove's Weegee, Camera Atomica, Through Post-Atomic Eyes, and Atomic Postcards: Radioactive Messages from the Cold War. He has organized five exhibitions on nuclear photography, in Copenhagen, London, Toronto, and Vancouver, and is a recipient of the Thakore Award in Human Rights and Peace Studies from Simon Fraser University.

Reviews
O'Brian's history of Canada's involvement in the nuclear story forms an eye-opening reminder that, however we perceive the world, our individual view is never the whole picture. -- Peter M. Sramek, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Art (Photography), OCAD University * University of Toronto Quarterly *

Art historian O'Brian has brought together all his powers of observation and perception to help us rethink how we view the history and the mystery of the bomb.

-- Ron Verzuh, author of Codename Project 9: How a Small British Columbia City Helped Create the Atomic Bomb * The Ormsby Review *
Employing an accessible yet scholarly approach, O'Brian does scholars of environmental, nuclear, and Cold War-era visual culture a great service as he brings together images and ideas in an interconnected web of analysis that complicates the chronological narrative of events, [showing] us that photography may either alert us to nuclear risk or numb us to its dangers. -- Karla McManus, University of Regina * BC Studies *


Awards
Commended for The Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design: Prose Illustrated 2021 (Canada).



Book Information
ISBN 9780774863889
Author John O'Brian
Format Paperback
Page Count 244
Imprint University of British Columbia Press
Publisher University of British Columbia Press