Nuking Alaska: Notes of an Atomic Fugitive

by Peter Dunlap-Shohl

As if, in midcentury Alaska, you needed more ways to die. From the creator of the critically acclaimed graphic novel My A Journey Through Parkinson’s comes an unnervingly funny tale of life in Alaska during the tensest times of the Cold War. Peter Dunlap-Shohl grew up on the front lines of the Cold War in the 1950s and ’60s, where Alaska residents lived in the shadow of a nuclear arsenal nine times the size of the Soviet Union’s. This graphic novel recounts the surprising and tragicomic details of the nuclear threats faced by Alaskans, including Project Chariot, championed by Edward Teller and his “firecracker boys” in the late 1950s and early ’60s; the nearly nuclear disaster caused by the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964; and the 1971 test of a nuclear warhead on the island of Amchitka. Dunlap-Shohl shares the terrible consequences that these events and others had for humans and animals alike, all in the service of “atoms for peace.” Drawn with Dunlap-Shohl’s characteristic editorial cartooning style, Nuking Alaska is a fast-paced reminder of how close we came to total annihilation just a half century ago―and how terribly relevant the nuclear threat remains to this day.

Genres: History, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comics, Politics, War, Graphic Novels Comics

104 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 2023

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deftly told graphic novel about the abuse by the US government and local government, of indigenous lands in Alaska for housing atomic weaponry and atomic waste. It's shocking stuff, but also manages to be quite funny at times.

The art might not be to everyone's taste, but I thought it was quite evocative.

(Picked up a review copy through Edelweiss)

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief history of nuclear disasters and near-misses in Alaska during the Cold War from an author who was a child living in Anchorage at the time.

First up, the Great Alaskan earthquake of 1964 wreaked havoc on a nuclear missile facility, Site Point, on the edge of Anchorage, threatening a conventional explosion that would have acted as a dirty bomb, scattering radioactive material over the city.

Then Edward Teller came to the state, obsessed with a plan to prove the peaceful uses of nuclear weapons by digging a brand-new harbor at Point Hope with five bomb explosions. Imagine his irritation when Alaskans started asking questions about the environmental consequences of Project Chariot beyond the new hole full of water and why an area that is icebound most of the year with little to trade needs a harbor in the first place.

Finally, the author recalls having to leave the classroom and stand outside one cold November day in 1971 as school officials tried to protect the children from a possible earthquake that might be set off by an underground nuclear weapons test on the tectonically unstable Aleutian island of Amchitka. Objections to the Cannikin test became a flashpoint for environmental activism, birthing Greenpeace. Otter loves, beware, as it doesn't end well for your furry little friends.

The book is an ode to local activism and a good reminder that we need to stay vigilant as to what our government is doing, as it does not always have our best interests at heart, especially when it has shiny new toys to play with.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Prologue. Einstein's Greatest Mistake -- 1. Labors of Hercules -- 2. Chariot of Fire -- 3. Friendly Fire -- Notes -- Acknowledgments

[David A Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling

[Hal Schrieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great, brief graphic novel about the history of nuclear tests in Alaska, which in turn produces some of the first tangible wins/draws of the environmentalist/no nukes movement and the American Indian movement. I love Dunlap-Shohl's artistic style, which leans into caricatures in a personable, fluid way and mixes anecdotes from a Cold War childhood with facts about what national political figures were planning to do with land they saw as theirs to bomb, dispose of, or irradiate as they saw fit. The organization of Inupiat people against the insane "Project Chariot" (which intended to bomb a massive crater into Alaska's coast to create a harbor, potentially destroying most animal life on the tundra and in the surrounding Arctic sea) is inspiring and well-narrativized, I now understand how Greenpeace started (with rock concerts and opposition to the tests at Amchitka island which liquified local otter and seal populations) and the total government deceit of early tests and the danger that government employees, wildlife, and ordinary people were put in without their knowledge is useful context for government projects now.

[Nev March · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for kids and adults. If you are alive, you need to read this.

You only need an hour to gain possibly the shortest summary of the colossal dangers of egomaniacs in power.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The contingent of Cold War scientist of politicians who believed the best policy was to use nukes on everything wrought merry hell on Alaska, and Dunlap-Shohl chronicles it all from his perspective as a kid growing up in Alaska where all the nuclear experimentation was there to be seen.

[Elizabeth Theiss Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story of three near nuclear disasters created by the US federal government in Alaska during the Cold War are related in a cartoon format by the incomparable Peter Dunlap-Shohl, retired cartoonist for the Anchorage newspaper.

For me this was a trip down Memory Lane. I remember the duck and cover exercises in school in the 1950s and the Cuban Missile Crisis well. During the latter I was home from school with the flu and watched the crisis unfold on the living room television hour by hour, totally terrified.

Perhaps most shocking is the lack of thought that went into such federal projects. For example, the plan to build a new harbor by detonating a series of nuclear explosions seems batsh*t crazy to me but officials seemed to have been unaware of obvious consequences like wildlife destruction and nuclear fallout. Furthermore, officials were willing to lie to the public about these projects in order to mitigate protests.

Well worth reading as a cautionary tale but also quite a good read.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing story about something that actually almost happened, that the US wanted to drop a nuke in Northern Alaska to form a new harbor, because what could be the harm in that. They had no thought to how it would affect the local communities, especially the Inuit who would lose their land and be poisoned by the radiation.


Apparently, and this was something I didn’t know, but this helped give the impedice for forming Greenpeace to protest this and other nuclear bombing.


The author was a child, while all this was going on, and fills in some bits about how it felt to know that the government though of Alaska as just a big place to set off bombs. As it was, they finally decided to do one underground, which wasn’t *quite* as bad, but still contaminated the water around.

At the end of the book, he has footnotes either with links to the source of his research.

Fascinating and terrifying read. Good to know about recent history.

Thanks to Edelweiss for making this book available for an honest review. This book will be published June 27, 2023.

[Andrew Dowd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprising true stories of how Alaska was seen as a suitable place for testing nuclear bombs are well-told in this short graphic novel.

Author Dunlap-Shohl captures the mood and politics of the Cold War era 60s using the perspectives of children, other Alaska residents, military officials, scientists and politicians.
His personal recollections of growing up in Cold War Alaska are intermingled with well-researched history of 3 events that happened there.
The tales are an earthquake that endangered missile installations, a mad plan to explode nukes to create a harbor, and an underground nuclear warhead test.

It's surprising history and this very accessible graphic novel is a great introduction to it.
Right after reading it, I sought out one of its key sources so I can learn more about the insane Project Chariot plan to create a harbor using nuclear bombs.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic about Alaska's fraught history with nuclear weaponry is scarily eye-opening, but presented with wonderfully scrawly, eccentric cartooning and a tragicomic sense of humor that work together in pitch-perfect harmony. Finishing it, I wondered how on earth we humans are still here on this planet, how is it we haven't annihilated ourselves yet (spoiler alert: we came horrifyingly close in the early 60s). But give us time, we're working on it, harder than ever. Also: now I want to see the new, smash-hit movie Oppenheimer even more (Oppenheimer makes an appearance here, naturally). One of my favorite comics this year.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting and informative memoir about the presence of nuclear power (in a fighting sense) in Alaska. This felt like a mini history book about a topic I had no clue about before picking it up, but the history unfortunately makes complete sense. I found it a bit too meandering and lacking a conclusion, but the information was appreciated nevertheless.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be filed next to "Atomic Days", about the calamitous nuclear clear-up needed on Indigenous lands in the far north of America (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), we have this similar-themed non-fiction title. Well, file them near each other at least, as this is a graphic novel and so uses an utterly different approach. But we see three instances of nuclear problems for Alaska, starting with the fact their Cold War missile silos were on an earthquake fault line, and moving on to testing – a test that allegedly did no harm when it was finally greenlit by a Nixon looking too soft for those to the political right of him, and the testing of nuclear megabombs right next to Russia to make lovely clean harbour sites in the middle of nowhere.

The book is lucky in that its chatty, semi-autobiographical approach, and the level of journalism used, is just enough to stop the amount of wiseness after the event being cloying. Hindsight is a good thing, of course – but any more of it might have turned me against the contents here. And that said, there were generally enough people saying these things were down to bad ideas and bad science at the time. I didn't know the career as featured here of one of the scientists involved, and in fact I learnt something on every page – apart from some wordless ones. I can't extrapolate and pretend to know how much of this will be new to all Alaskans, but I assume it will turn out to be a quite galling bit of factual entertainment for many of them. It's certainly a success, for the accessibility levels are approaching Def Con One.

[Dan Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comics are known to be a place where larger-than-life concepts and wacky ideas live and thrive. Perhaps none more out there than Nuking Alaska, which centers on a story about the government trying to push forward a plan to set off a multitude of nuclear bombs in Alaska in order to create a harbor. The craziest part? It’s a true story.

Peter Dunlap-Shohl’s Nuking Alaska operates as part memoir part deep research into the impact of the nuclear age. Living in Alaska during the Cold War nuclear weapons were a big part of life. Considering Alaska's proximity to Russia and how the US government would treat Alaska like their nuclear plaything the citizens of Alaska had a lot on their mind.

His art style is ugly with a purpose. He has a very sketchy line and people tend to be rendered in a caricature style you would see in a political cartoon. Definitely substance over pristine style here. It sets the tone for the absurdity of this story and the people behind it.

It is a fascinating piece of work as touches upon the existential dread that people lived through during that time as well as the fragility of power and the lengths people go to get it and maintain it. While we may not have a nuclear harbor in Alaska right now, this covers some of the horrible things that have happened and the asinine reason they occurred. Risking our future sometimes just in the hopes of improving poll numbers. Also brings to light how the lives of the indigenous population were disregarded simply for the sake of ambition. Definitely a comic where you are laughing in hopes of hiding the tears.

[Bradley Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The former cartoonist for the Anchorage Daily News for twenty-five years, as well as a nearly lifelong Alaskan, Dunlap-Shohl uses his artistic prowess and personal experience growing up in the Last Frontier to tell the story of how the country’s biggest state became its biggest nuclear target. After World War II, as the Cold War brought the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of mutually assured destruction, the newly minted 49th state soon found itself at the center of the conflict, with its geographical proximity to the heart of both super powers, as well as its naturally pristine remoteness, making it essential to nuclear defense strategy. Dunlap-Shohl explores key moments in Alaska during the Cold War where the use of nuclear weapons not only threatened the lives of Alaskans and the beauty of their state, but also carried the potential of escalating global tension toward total nuclear annihilation; Project Chariot which advocated using five nuclear bombs to excavate a port with no economic value; the 1964 earthquake which became the largest ever recorded in North America and which also resulted in damaged missile silos around Anchorage; and the 1971 underground nuclear test on the island of Amchitka which had devastated wildlife for decades. Dunlap-Shohl’s book not only uncovers the history of Alaska’s role on the nuclear frontlines, but also reveals the delicate balance within the relationship to our environment, as both man with nature and man with nation.

[Ramon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3.5, but we don't get that choice.

There are two halves to this review, I guess, the first being the telling of a bizarre piece of US history and the second being the medium it's being told with.

First, the history here is told clearly and effectively, and the author's text really gets through how absurd yet mundane the whole event was. It's no longer surprising to learn that overly excited American colonizers and scientists were willing to risk the lives of people whose existences couldn't even be imagined just to "see what happens". It's no longer surprising to see the amount of work that went into fabricating stories, creating false studies that showed that detonating a nuclear bomb to build an "instant harbor". What continues to amaze and depress me is just how close these things keep coming to actually happening.

Second, I'm not sure the medium made the story any better. It didn't take anything away, and using the chaotic art and writing style of this specific graphic novel did help get a story I'd never heard about into my hands, so I guess it was effective enough. It wasn't made more exciting through the artwork, but I guess it was more accessible, and that's not nothing.

[Zachary Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"On November 6, 1971, the court ruled 4-3 the test could go forward. Nixon had already ordered the test be carried out.

Nearly 1,000 sea otters were killed, their skulls crushed by the force of the shockwave generated by the explosion. The blast killed other marine mammals, blowing their eyes out of their sockets or rupturing their lungs. Thousands of seabirds also died, their spines snapped or their legs pushed through their bodies by the shockwave. Landslides struck Amchitka's coast and shook seastacks.

A classified film made at the time of the test hailed it as a great success..."

Alaska August Book 4! This short, but punchy book tackles the terrifying history of nuclear weapons in Alaksa during the Cold War years. It's a little disturbing that Alaska was used by politicians as a nuclear sandbox, but Peter Dunlap-Shohl does a good job of also highlighting the resistance and progress made by locals. Lots of anti-fun facts in this one, but it never felt too dark thanks to the occasional humor thrown in throughout the book.

Some may be put off by the less than beautiful art style, but I thought it fit the topic well (I don't need to see a beautiful Nixon). Definitely check this out if you can!!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 37 of Nuclear Studies:

My first graphic novel added to this list! I really enjoyed Dunlap-Shohl's presentation and tight storytelling here, and by that, I mean that I laughed bitterly and also felt extremely angry at nuclear testing. Dunlap-Shohl focuses in on the effect to the environment and indigenous communities in Alaska as he relates two major incidents (he lived there as a child during them) where a portion of the ecosystem was risked and/or damaged. It's notable to me that this is the first time I've heard of either of these incidents, despite the amount of reading I've done on this subject (perhaps they're too niche or I haven't read the one that do contain a retelling of Project Chariot).

I really relate to the sentiment that this was Dunlap-Shohl's awakening that the adults were not in charge.

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dunlap-Shohl’s history of Cold War–era nuclear projects in Alaska, both proposed and realized, is concise and compelling. His uncute editorial-style illustrations are well-suited to the material, and sometimes quite striking, and the material itself is fascinating and unsettling, especially the chapter on the would-be “Project Chariot,” a moment in which grassroots organizing actually managed to (mostly) avert a potentially catastrophic government action. (The land still ended up with significant radioactive contamination, thanks to secret experiments carried out despite public opposition, but the plan to detonate five thermonuclear devices in northwest Alaska to carve out an artificial harbor no one needed or wanted was shelved, so that’s something.)

2025 Read Harder Challenge
17. Read a book of little-known history.

[Neal Fandek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a graphic novel fan -- the genre reads quickly and superficially, and I, at least, don't absorb as much, my attention fixated on images -- but I liked this a lot. Read it less than an hour. The creation of nuclear weapons, the three Cold War-era nuclear disasters detailed here, the extensive, ongoing coverups, all really quite shocking. And alas, all too believable. The plan to create a new harbor with five nukes in far northern Alaska seems unbelievable, far-fetched, fictional, but if history tells us anything it's that the unbelievable, the unthinkable is in fact routine.

There's a nuclear power plant 46 miles from my home, and nuclear waste was dumped on the land and in creeks for decades about 120 miles away. Wherever you live, it probably ain't so safe.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boom! (oops, don't flinch)

But yay, a graphic nonfiction that really delivers. I was blown away (cringe) by this one. Hindsight is always more accurate, but dang the politicians we're stuck with really suck sometimes. They just extend this inherited colonial bull**** mindset that makes them think they can play with the lives of any marginalized peoples, animals, or natural areas. You had to pay out $100 million to victims of your *harmless* nuclear experiments? What douchebags.

Long live Vasili Arkhipov!

Recommended for everyone.

[Kory Keller · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mom is teaching this book at school and talked me into reading it. It’s a quick read. A graphic novel talking about the history of Alaska’s role in trying to detect and test nuclear bombs. A lot of highly disturbing history. I was completely unaware of though, some of it happened within my lifetime. I think this read would be best as a physical book since the illustrations are so strong rather than a digital book.

[Deirdre Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

anthropology note: strontium 90 acts like calcium, meaning when processed by the body, record of atomic testing is present in the skeletal record. which means basically everyone since the first abomb has strontium 90 preserved on their body. i also think it has a half life of 30 years which is great

[Jack Vinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A graphic novel, telling the story of Alaska’s part in the Cold War and the nuclear weapons there. Along with the weird idea to create a new port with nuclear bombs to blast a port into the edge of northern Alaska. It really is remarkable that we haven’t accidentally blown ourselves to bits with these things.

[Blane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one falls squarely in the "WTF!?!" category, as I had not previously known of our country's own nuclear warhead testing on Amchitka Island off of Alaska in 1971. Not surprisingly, the entire misadventure occurred under Nixon's reign of terror. Considering the foolhardiness of the test, we are all very, very lucky it did not go worse than it did.

[Kelly Teen Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pages 50 + 81 sum it up for me perfectly: the world leaders have no clue what's going on and don't give a shit about anything other than their sick, senseless agendas.

Great, worthwhile read and informative citation at the end to continue researching the topic.

[Alex Nagler · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know a plan is nuts when Nixon says "No, that's a bit too far for me." Turns out Edward Teller wanted to create a harbor in Alaska by means of H-Bomb.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I didn’t know this about the possibility of nuclear testing in Alaska Very informative book. Scary subject

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A graphic novel about how nuclear power impacted the state of Alaska.

[Patricia Tsune · Rating 4 out of 5]

frightening

[Rae]

Cold War politics. Nuclear testing. Project Chariot. Amchitka. How did I not know about this?