100 Suns
We quickly forget how greatly fear of the nuclear bomb permeated life in the 20th Century during the cold war years and with so much talk about the acquisition and use of such weapons recently, it’s useful to be reminded of what they are, what they do, and what they look like. The book 100 Suns by Michael Light was published in 2003 but I just came across it. It contains some awesome [in the true sense of the word] images.
From the introduction: “100 Suns documents the era of visible nuclear testing, the atmospheric era, with 100 photographs drawn by Michael Light from the archives at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the U.S. National Archives in Maryland. It includes previously classified material from the clandestine Lookout Mountain Air Force Station based in Hollywood, whose film directors, cameramen, and still photographers were sworn to secrecy. The title, 100 SUNS, refers to the response by J. Robert Oppenheimer to the world’s first nuclear explosion in New Mexico when he quoted a passage from the Bhagavad Gita, the classic Vedic text, “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst forth at once in the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One… I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” This was Oppenheimer’s attempt to describe the otherwise indescribable.”
There’s a brief image gallery on the website, where you can also purchase the book.
