Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed by Judy Pasternak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book made me angry. It made me sad. It left me gobsmacked. The story of how the Navajo people found themselves at the center of the uranium rush and were left with a legacy of poisoned lands and countless deaths isn't a tale of evil, it's a tale of ignorance, greed, and governmental incompetence.

The story is told in the best way for a recent history like this. It tells the stories of the people involved, from the Navajo eager to prove their patriotism by working the mines during WWII to the government officials trying to figure out what the hell happened when those miners began dying young of lung cancer. Through all these, you learn about the Navajo and their concept of balance with nature and how they hold the land sacred. You see the struggle to balance that balance with the need for jobs and money in the poverty-stricken reservation. And most of all, the reader learns how ignorance of the dangers of radiation and the incredible foot-dragging by the mining companies and the government led to lost generations of Navajo.

Amazingly good read. I recommend it to anyone interested in our environment.

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