Grappling with the Bomb: Britain's Pacific H-Bomb Tests by Nic Maclellan (review)

Over sixty years ago, Britain launched a series of nuclear weapons tests at Malden Island and Christmas (Kiritimati) Island in the Pacific. Continuing an experimental program that had begun in Australia in 1952, the "Grapple" series included the detonation of nine bombs in 1957 and 1958. In this informative and accessible book, journalist Nic Maclellan investigates this brief but important period of Britain's nuclear past. A study that emphasizes the human story while exploring the technical, scientific, economic, political, and military aspects of the tests, Maclellan's history marshals multiple forms of evidence against a persistent "culture of secrecy" (8) surrounding these events.

Ultimately, the book is a call for justice for the victims of Britain's quest for nuclear power and prestige in the Cold War era. Placing the Grapple experiments within the broader context of nuclear testing by other Western powers in the Pacific, the book highlights the British government's failure to acknowledge the damage caused by its actions in the region. The tests had significant short-term and lasting impact on the lives of veterans, and on Indigenous inhabitants and ecosystems, including a range of health and psychological consequences for those exposed to the blasts, fallout, and radiation. As Maclellan points out, while the American and French governments have established protocols (however inadequate) to compensate those affected by their own tests in the Pacific, Britain has done little to address the harm caused by its own program in the area.

In each of Grappling with the Bomb's twenty-two brief chapters, the author focuses on a group or individual whose story offers a different vantage point on the tests' history and aftermath. Some chapters consider the biographies, motivations, and roles of political leaders such as Winston Churchill, Harold MacMillan, and John F. Kennedy. Others explore the decisions and actions of military personnel, from high-ranking officers like Grapple Task Force Commander Wilfred Oulton, to the pilots, sailors, and soldiers (British and colonial) who made the experiments possible in myriad ways. Outlining the ideas and efforts of those who supported testing, Maclellan identifies forms of resistance to the Grapple program that came from various quarters: British parliamentarians who raised questions about the high costs of the nuclear weapons program; a Japanese government concerned with the interests of its fishermen; other nations calling for nuclear disarmament and a ban on testing; figures like James Burns, a businessman with plantation holdings in the area; and peace activists such as Harold Steele. Maclellan also considers the perspectives of local inhabitants, including fisherman, mothers, and children. Rinok Riklon and Lemeyo Abon, for example, experienced these events as young girls. The inclusion of oral testimonies such as theirs, reflecting on the events decades later, personalizes this history in meaningful ways.

Two "Interludes" supplement the book's multiple sources and points of view with respect to the Grapple tests. Appearing between chapters six and seven, "On radiation, safety and secrecy," points to a deplorable British neglect of a "duty of care" toward veterans and civilians that continues to this day. "Contested Illnesses" explores the range of medical conditions that have plagued veterans and their descendants — conditions linked to testing in ways that can be very difficult to establish with certainty, thus weakening the legal cases of victims who were exposed. This burden of proof, along with other impediments, has also frustrated survivors seeking reparations from the French government. Indeed protest from veterans and survivors' groups, and from Polynesian political leaders, have moved France to review its policies recently. (For more information on France's review, see Radio New Zealand's July 2017 report, "France Reconsiders Compensation Bids By Nuclear Test Veterans.")

Weaving together personal stories with archival sources, Grappling with the Bomb will prove a useful text for scholars and students seeking a comprehensive account of British nuclear testing and its legacies in the Pacific. Moving back and forth in time from...