Status
Available
Publication
New York : Pantheon, c1996.
Description
In riveting and revelatory detail, Aftermath documents the ways in which wars have transformed the terrain of the battlefield into landscapes of memory and enduring terror: in France, where millions of acres of farmland are cordoned off to all but a corps of demolition experts responsible for the undetonated bombs and mines of World War I that are now rising up in fields, gardens, and backyards; in a sixty-square-mile area outside Stalingrad that was a cauldron of destruction in 1941 and is today an endless field of bones; in the Nevada deserts, where America waged a hidden nuclear war against itself in the 1950's, the results of which are only now becoming apparent; in Vietnam, where a nation's effort to remove the physical detritus of war has created psychological and genetic devastation; in Kuwait, where terrifyingly sophisticated warfare was followed by the Sisyphean task of making an uninhabitable desert capable of sustaining life. Aftermath excavates our century's darkest history, revealing that the destruction of the past remains deeply, inextricably embedded in the present.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member MarieFriesen
Donovan Webster, a former editor at Outside magazine, has written an eyewitness account of the impossible tasks involved with removing armaments that continue to kill after war has ceased. Between 110 and 120 million land mines are planted in the soil of more than 64 countries. The exponential
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numbers point to the staggering difficulties Aftermath details: each year more than 5 million new land mines are laid, and only 100,000 are cleared; a new mine costs $3, but removing one costs between $200 and $1,000... Show Less
LibraryThing member Coelacanth
This book describes the amazing danger still lurking in the sites of the trenches in the first world war. Tons of munitions, including many shells filled with poison gas, are still uncovered each year by farm work and construction. The scale of the war boggles the mind.
LibraryThing member Meggo
Fascinating and absolutely worthwhile reading. It is too easy to think that war is all about blowing the heck out of the other side, and the last one standing is the winner. Not so - there are bodies, bombs and mines left behind that the survivors (winners and losers both) must address. Told around
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the story of unexploded ordinance in France, bodies in Russia, mines in Asia. A great book, well written. Show Less
LibraryThing member douboy50
Very interesting book! Wars are easy to start; incredibly difficult to end; and according to the research and field work of the author virtually impossible to cleanup afterward. He covers a range of conflicts including WWI, WWIl, Viet Nam, the Balkans, and the Middle East. His style makes you feel
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as if you are present as he tours the areas and interviews 'experts' and local people. He also covers the disposal of chemical and nuclear weapons in the US. Scary in deed. Highly recommend this work!! Show Less
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
Although somewhat dated, this was an interesting look at what is left on the battlefield--sometimes years, decades, or centuries--after war subsides. The first chapter considers the battlefields of World War I in France--Verdun, the Somme, the Marne--through the work of the demineurs who in the
The second chapter considers World War II, and the battlefields around Stalingrad, where many died of starvation or froze to death, in addition to battlefield casualties. As of the time the book was written, the bones of many dead (primarily) Germans littered the fields around Stalingrad.
I found the third chapter less interesting. It involved a visit to the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear weapons were exploded above-ground from 1951-1963. What's left behind is invisible: radiation and the cancers it causes. I've read several more recent books on the subject of nuclear waste and radiation, so while the descriptions of the eeriness of the site was impressive, the chapter did not offer me new information.
The fourth chapter involved a visit to Vietnam, where the war had ended only 20 years before this book was published. I lived through this war vicariously on the Nightly News with Walter Cronkite so the names were familiar. One of the most horrifying "aftermaths" the author describes in this chapter was, surprisingly, a visit to a maternity hospital, where in a room full of fetuses preserved in formaldehyde the effects of the Agent Orange the US rained down on Vietnam's jungles and fields are in full view.
The next chapter involved a visit to Kuwait by the author just a few years after the end of the First Gulf War. It was estimated that 7 million land mines were sown in the sands of Kuwait by both sides. Just a few years after the end of this war in 1991, more than 2000 civilians had been killed by the mines that had been left behind, and "nearly as many coalition-nation citizens have perished clearing Kuwait's desert of mines and bombs (83) as Americans died in the fighting itself (103)." Today, land mines crowd the soil in more than 60 countries.
The final chapter was a visit to a storage depot for nerve gas weapons. As he leaves, the author thinks, "Behind me, the alarm sounds once more."
I found this a fascinating and riveting read. We all know the horrors of war, especially never-ending wars. But my eyes were opened by the horrors left behind. While mostly anecdotal, the author has a fine eye for detail, and his observations clear and on point. Only 2 complaints: I think the book would have been enhanced with a few pictures. And, I would like some updates.
Highly Recommended. 4 stars
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areas designated as the Red Zone seek to disarm unexploded shells and ordnance, of which there remained vast quantities at the time this book was written 90 years after the war's end. It was estimated that after the war nearly 12 million unexploded shells remained near Verdun, with more near the Somme and the Marne, and millions more on the beaches of Normandy and Brittany. It was not until 1946, after World War II, that France began systematic efforts to clear the explosives. Between 1946 and 1996 when this book was written more than 630 demineurs had died in the line of duty. And even at the time the book was written innocent civilians were still losing their lives to encounters with the unexploded detritus of war; for example, 36 farmers died in 1991 in France when their machinery hit unexploded shells.The second chapter considers World War II, and the battlefields around Stalingrad, where many died of starvation or froze to death, in addition to battlefield casualties. As of the time the book was written, the bones of many dead (primarily) Germans littered the fields around Stalingrad.
I found the third chapter less interesting. It involved a visit to the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear weapons were exploded above-ground from 1951-1963. What's left behind is invisible: radiation and the cancers it causes. I've read several more recent books on the subject of nuclear waste and radiation, so while the descriptions of the eeriness of the site was impressive, the chapter did not offer me new information.
The fourth chapter involved a visit to Vietnam, where the war had ended only 20 years before this book was published. I lived through this war vicariously on the Nightly News with Walter Cronkite so the names were familiar. One of the most horrifying "aftermaths" the author describes in this chapter was, surprisingly, a visit to a maternity hospital, where in a room full of fetuses preserved in formaldehyde the effects of the Agent Orange the US rained down on Vietnam's jungles and fields are in full view.
The next chapter involved a visit to Kuwait by the author just a few years after the end of the First Gulf War. It was estimated that 7 million land mines were sown in the sands of Kuwait by both sides. Just a few years after the end of this war in 1991, more than 2000 civilians had been killed by the mines that had been left behind, and "nearly as many coalition-nation citizens have perished clearing Kuwait's desert of mines and bombs (83) as Americans died in the fighting itself (103)." Today, land mines crowd the soil in more than 60 countries.
The final chapter was a visit to a storage depot for nerve gas weapons. As he leaves, the author thinks, "Behind me, the alarm sounds once more."
I found this a fascinating and riveting read. We all know the horrors of war, especially never-ending wars. But my eyes were opened by the horrors left behind. While mostly anecdotal, the author has a fine eye for detail, and his observations clear and on point. Only 2 complaints: I think the book would have been enhanced with a few pictures. And, I would like some updates.
Highly Recommended. 4 stars
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Subjects
Awards
Lionel Gelber Prize (Winner — 1997)