Photographs provide a link between the nuclear past and present, and they play a significant role in shaping the public’s perception of nuclear events. What can they reveal about Canada’s nuclear footprint?The Bomb in the Wilderness contends that photography is one of the principal ways, if not the primary way, that Canadians 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 Japan. The impact of Canada’s nuclear programs has been felt ever since the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the reach of those programs – its nuclear footprint – has been global. John O’Brian puts nuclear risk at the centre of his deeply informed inquiry. Do photographs alert viewers to nuclear threat, numb them to its dangers, or by some strange calculus accomplish both? This 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 by John O'brian, Paperback | Indigo Chapters