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Summary: For the Good of Mankind tells an awesome story
Review: I first heard of this incredible story via word of mouth from some people who had actually traveled to Bikini Atoll last year. After reading this book, I feel like I have a good sense of how the Bikinian people feel about all of their trials and tribulations at the hands of the US government. What a story: If you are an American and want to understand what a true sacrifice is, read this book about this historically obscure period of US nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. The author includes an overview of Bikini Atoll's history along with a great collection of interviews by Bikini islanders. The interviews are what make this book so unique: They cover a wide variety of topics, from religion and traditional stories, to actual interviews with Bikinian elders who were actually present when the United States moved them from their islands to make way for the nuclear testing in 1946. Some of these older islanders are now deceased, which makes this book even a more compelling read. The book is not a long, heavy, sorrow filled diatribe, indeed, the author, by including some of his own feelings, stories and experiences after living with the Bikinians for years, at times makes the reading light and very humorous. He also includes plenty of factual information that completes the story for the reader. I really enjoyed this book as it pulled me though another culture that is totally different than our own.
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Summary: A Unique Perspective
Review: I found this book to be remarkably unique and refreshing as the author has found an interesting way to allow the islanders to tell their own story through interviews and vignettes about the islands.
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Summary: Bikini: Paradise Re-Found
Review: In the depths of the lagoon of the island of Bikini, a ghost fleet of warships provides testimony to a long ago war that saw atrocities committed, and atrocities defeated. Swimming among them, teeming ocean life and invading humans with the quiet "whoosh" of air bubbles from the latest diving gear, speak a different, 21st Century tale. But it's the voices of those that have since gone silent -- their stories, legends, and myths -- that haunt the reader of "For The Good of Mankind." The book, written by Bikini Trust Liaison Jack Niedenthal, captures the imagination from the first page of this story of nuclear exodus of the people of Bikini. Bikini is a lush, tropical island that's part of an atoll by the same name in the Marshall Islands. The Marshalls are situated north of the equator in the Pacific, an area of strategic military importance to both the Japanese and Americans. From 1946 to 1958, the U.S. government tested nearly 70 atomic bombs on Bikini and Enewetak Niedenthal, an American by birth and the first American bestowed with Marshalese citizenship, has been "out there" for over 20 years. While the facts about the testing of the atomic bomb after World War II are compelling to study , it is the texture of island life through the storytelling of the elders that is a treasure beyond compare for readers, the descendents of the original Bikinians, and historians. Their story conveys beyond words the true impact of losing their home, watching while it was destroyed over 12 years of time, facing starvation, living in exile, and a relationship with the U.S. government that could only be described as trust turned to a mournful betrayal. That story was almost never told. When Niedenthal first came to work with the Bikinians as a teacher after a 3-year stint on an outer island for the Peace Corps, he found a culture with primarily an oral history. Not content to let these stories die, he undertook interviews with elders who had been there from the beginning. The beginning. Atomic testing code-named Operation Crossroads. Niedenthal's title partially quotes the famous meeting between Commodor Ben Wyatt, the military governor of the Marshall Islands (of which Bikini Atoll is a part), and King Juda, then leader of the Bikinians. The February 1946 meeting took place after church. The Commodor took the opportunity to ask if the U.S. could begin testing the atomic bomb for "the good of mankind and to end all wars." King Juda responded with what became part of the Bikinian flag: "We will go believing that everything is in the hands of God." The other part of Niedenthal's book documents the testing that took place from 1946 to 1958, and included one blast, Bravo, that was the equivalent of 1,000 times the strength of what was dropped on Japan. For that, the scientists cheered. Others, saw it a bit more clearly. "As soon as the war ended, we located the one spot on earth that hadn't been touched by the war and blew it to hell," commented Comedian Bob Hope. Indeed, the continuing story of the Bikinians could be described in such terms. After one attempt to bring the Bikinians home resulted in high levels of radioactivity in those living there, the Bikinians sued and won trust funds from the U.S. government to study cleaning Bikini , Then there are those Bikinians living in exile in Kili, who have suffered famine, and a loss of livlihood among other things. Kili, a small rock of an island with no natural harbor for fishing, is the current residence of the Bikinians. While science is finally catching up to the devastation it has wrought, the Bikinians have recognized that there will be no going back to the old ways. Even though the produce of the land is still contaminated, the ocean rebounded in the 43 years since testing ended. Ships sunk during the blasts, many of them quite famous and still containing live ammunition, have made the waters off Bikini a top dive destination and an incredible study of military history. The Bikinians have also opened the waters to fisherman. With an average temperature of 85 degrees year-round, tourism is becoming a possibility to eventual self-sufficiency. After reading "For the Good of Mankind," the temptation to undertake a pilgrimage to Bikini, an island where the beaches whisper of breathtaking natural beauty and the waters detail the mystery of human destructiveness, is irresistible. King Juda had it right all those years ago. Only the hand of God could come close to restoring this perfection. Now all that's needed is a final remedy for the land that could provide the way home. And it's still in His hands.
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Summary: A Very Worthwhile Book
Review: My father was stationed in the Pacific during the nuclear testing so I grew up hearing so much about the islands. I enjoyed this book because it gave me a sense of what it must be like to live in such a beautiful place, yet at the same time having to deal with so much tragedy. What surprised me the most was how entertaining and how easy to read this book was. It really gave life to the way people must be and must think in the islands.
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Summary: A Very Worthwhile Book
Review: My father was stationed in the Pacific during the nuclear testing so I grew up hearing so much about the islands. I enjoyed this book because it gave me a sense of what it must be like to live in such a beautiful place, yet at the same time having to deal with so much tragedy. What surprised me the most was how entertaining and how easy to read this book was. It really gave life to the way people must be and must think in the islands.
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Summary: a breath of very fresh air
Review: This book was an eye opener. It makes you wonder why this event that happened so many years ago in the middle of the Pacific has been buried for so long. This is not a cut and dry history, this book is a very readable journey through a culture that is unique. The author lets us know who he is, so it enables the reader to understand the person who is doing the interviews. That was a nice and unexpected touch. I found the book to be thought provoking and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in studying the history of the Pacific.
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Summary: a breath of very fresh air
Review: This book was an eye opener. It makes you wonder why this event that happened so many years ago in the middle of the Pacific has been buried for so long. This is not a cut and dry history, this book is a very readable journey through a culture that is unique. The author lets us know who he is, so it enables the reader to understand the person who is doing the interviews. That was a nice and unexpected touch. I found the book to be thought provoking and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in studying the history of the Pacific.
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Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: This is a very sad and very hard to believe story. I don't understand how the United States could be so uncaring toward people who were so defenseless. I got this book and started reading and could not put it down. Listening to the islanders describe their tale was so interesting, I can only hope that they find their way back to their islands someday. My only criticism of the book is that I found myself even wanting to read more...The author really seems to have a feel for the people he is writing about.
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Summary: Good Book
Review: This is history written from the view of the people. The book had me crying at times, at times laughing, at times it had me very angry: The story of the people of Bikini is that kind of tale. I will just give this warning: this book will not make you proud to be an American, we really messed things up out there.
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