The Armageddon Experience
A Nuclear Weapons Test Memoir
A memoir by Rod Buntzen
Available in hardcover, paperback and e-book.
About the Book
A chilling echo of America’s nuclear fear during the Cold War with the Soviet Union is growing louder today. We now face a Russia with a 50 Megaton thermonuclear weapon and the means of delivering it off our coasts, and a three-body China nuclear threat that turns mutual assured destruction (MAD) deterrent policy into potential chaos. The Armageddon Experience recounts my experience as an undergraduate science student working at a little-known, top-secret Navy laboratory preparing for nuclear weapon tests in the Pacific. It tells of my journey from the 1950s University of California, Berkeley, to the Pacific Proving Grounds—from campus life to secret national defense research and interactions with Manhattan Project scientists.
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The Armageddon Experience helps bring the WWII Hiroshima history into modern times regarding the physical and radiation damage of nuclear weapons. It describes the day-to-day life of the scientists and workers preparing for nuclear detonations on Eniwetak Atoll, the possible escape routes, and damage of an attack on San Francisco during the Cuban Missile Crises, the dangers of nuclear yield mistakes, and the mis-treatment of native islanders whose home we destroyed. It also tells of a realization that nuclear weapon improvement was something I no longer wanted do, leading to an alteration I my defense research career emphasis.
Uncontrollable Middle East violence and hatred of the US is contributing to the possibility that nuclear weapons may someday detonate on American soil. Unfortunately, few of our leaders remember the horror of what nuclear weapons can cause, and the public today has little understanding of what was at stake during the Cold War and what to expect from a nuclear explosion in one of our cities.
The possibility of a dangerous political decision or an accident during the Cold War created a climate of existential fear that loomed over all those involved. Unfortunately, little of the widespread existential fear for our survival that these weapons generated during the Cold War remains to contribute to the debate facing our leaders.
The Armageddon Experience epigraph is a reminder for our leaders: “When the last witness to nuclear Armageddon is gone, the temptation to create others will become irresistible.”
“Witnessing megaton-scale hydrogen bombs exploded above ground is no longer something young scientists get to do. Rod Buntzen did and lived to tell it. This is his story. He tells it well.”
– Richard Rhodes,
Pulitzer Prize winner for The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986)
Endorsements
“Rod Buntzen’s book The Armageddon Experience leaves much to think about. Although there were technical descriptions and analyses I didn’t understand, the author’s writing skills create ample images of an environment that put the reader on Enewetak Atoll beach during an underwater nuclear bomb test explosion. The author details his research and personal experience of the characteristic phenomena throughout the atomic event – the initial flash and intense luminescence, radiating heat, fireball and wind blast, extreme ebbing and flowing of the tide and, of course, resulting radioactive fallout with consequences. Despite the author’s enthusiastic recollections with colleagues and the excitement of his personal life intermingled with research at the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, Rod Buntzen leaves no doubt as to the lethal consequences of nuclear weapons on all life on earth.”
– Katharine R. Wallace,
An intriguing account of nuclear bomb research
“A well-written, highly-personal account of the author’s personal journey from college student to the inner circles of the top-secret world of U.S. nuclear weapons tests. An important, thought- provoking book. The author has a knack of describing the scientific stuff in an understandable way. He also weaves his personal history and impressions in an engaging, entertaining way that makes this book hard to put down. Highly recommended!”
– Jim R,
“An excellent, personal account of nuclear weapons tests”
Why He Wrote It –
I realized that I was participating in an unusual experience at the Hardtack I nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific and took notes of everyday activities thinking that someday I would want to tell my family about what I witnessed. My inspiration was to remind our leaders and inform the public of the possible horror that lurks ahead, help archive the history of NRDL, and tell my story.
“Nuclear war will affect everyone on earth in ways that are not written in think tank studies and defense doctrine. It’s personal.”
– Rod Buntzen, Author
Pacific Book Review, reviewed by Anthony Avina, 2019.
Comprehensive evaluation, excerpt:
“Rod Buntzen’s The Armageddon Experience is a compelling nuclear-weapons memoir that attempts to bridge the enormous gap between the abstract idea of nuclear warfare and the terrifying physical reality of witnessing a nuclear detonation.”
What Reviewers Say
Essay by Rod in The New York Times Opinion, March 27, 2022: “This Is What It’s Like to Witness a Nuclear Explosion”
Same evaluation, second excerpt:
“The book is also significant because it combines personal storytelling with scientific information.”
Editorial Reviews
Title: The Armageddon Experience: A Nuclear Weapons Test Memoir
Author: Rod Buntzen
Publisher: Xlibris ISBN: 978-1796011593
Pages: 236
Genre: Memoir/History
Reviewed by: Anthony Avina
Pacific Book Review
The late American scientist George Wald once said, "Nuclear weapons offer us nothing but a balance of terror, and a balance of terror is still terror." In author Rod Buntzen's book The Armageddon Experience: A Nuclear Weapons Test Memoir, the author brings his vast knowledge and personal experience in the development of nuclear weapons to highlight the very real threat that nuclear weapons present to our modern day world.
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Exploring the response to nuclear arms technology following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the author recounts the years before, during and after his time working with the NRDL (Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory). From his time as a student at Berkeley to the years spent working on secret projects for the NRDL that included powerful nuclear tests over the course of a few months, and finally exploring how nuclear weapons would affect United States cities if attacked (using his considerable knowledge of nuclear weapons overall), this book covers a wide range of aspects of the dangerous world of nuclear weapons development.
What really stuck out about the writing was the blend of personal experiences with historical context. Whether it's the analysis of Berkeley's student life and how e it transitioned into the Hippie scene in the 60's,to the author's analysis of the nuclear bombs which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII, and ultimately the experience of seeing an underwater nuclear test in motion; more specifically the Umbrella Shot, one of only five naval based underwater nuclear tests in US History. The detail and intricacy that the author puts into every aspect of his time at the NRDL is amazing to read, from daily life and the interactions with others working there at that time, to the reaction of seeing these tests unfold and seeing first-hand the consequences these weapons have on our world.
This is definitely a book for anyone interested in the history of nuclear war, academics or students interested in studying nuclear power overall, and any reader who enjoys a personal memoir that can affect society as a whole. As someone who is constantly seeking to understand the past to try and make a better future for themselves and the world, I responded to the author's intent in this narrative that showcases a desire to fully illustrate the power and frightening nature of nuclear energy when weaponized, and the danger it poses to us now with so many nations in conflict with one another eager to develop their own nuclear programs. It's a scary thought to have, but understanding the past and the development of such weapons could help us prepare and either prevent or adapt to the possibility of nuclear war.
Overall, this is a fascinating, terrifying but powerful must-read book. A mixture of memoir style writing with technical scientific facts regarding specific nuclear weapons tests and a historical throwback to the history of nuclear weapons development, this book pulls the reader in as the history of the NRDL and several powerful and scary weapons tests slowly plays out. A must read as we face another period of history in which nuclear war and nuclear weapons threats are a very real possibility, be sure to pick up your copy of author Rod Buntzen's book The Armageddon Experience: A Nuclear Weapons Test Memoir today.
Press & Recognition
Essay in The New York Times Opinion, March 27, 2022: “This Is What It’s Like to Witness a Nuclear Explosion”
Essay in The New York Times Opinion, March 27, 2022: “This Is What It’s Like to Witness a Nuclear Explosion”
Endorsed by
1988 Pulitzer Prize Winner
Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize winner for The Making of the Atomic Bomb, endorsed The Armageddon Experience
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