Nuclear Family: A Memoir of the Atomic West

A lyric exploration of the complicated shared legacy of the atomic west through the lens of family history and the aftermath of the Manhattan Project.

Ty Bannerman’s family came to Los Alamos in 1952 to build nuclear bombs. This fact has become their origin myth, threaded into the very DNA of Bannerman himself, his relatives, and his children. No one on this planet has been untouched by the nuclear industry, but the Bannermans—working-class contributors to the atomic industrial complex—are a unique embodiment of this reality.

Nuclear Family is a lyrical memoir, a series of connected essays that use hard science, popular culture, and personal meditation to explore the role of nuclear weapons and the legacy of Los Alamos in the lives of one American family. Unsung heroes and victims, McCarthy-era interrogations, the Incredible Hulk, and corpses preserved for display are all linked, ultimately, to the bomb and the people who created it.