Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats - Full Body Burden

An important book about a significant event with long lasting impact on Colorado and America. In a very readable and personal fashion, the author relates her experience and the long lasting effects of America's experience with developing nuclear weapons on the residents and the land in Rocky Mountain Flats in Colorado. A very readable and ultimately heart breaking telling of a lack of government accountability.

Well written and shocking, this book reminds Americans anywhere that to blindly trust that your government operates with your best interests in mind is idiocy. An agenda that has nothing to do with citizen safety motivates security, energy, and resource agencies of the government that run behind multiple administrations. This book should terrify not only Coloradans but all Americans.

The author does a beautiful job of weaving a personal narrative about her own childhood near Rocky Flats, the compelling research about the effects of nuclear waste on the environment and human health, and the individual stories of Rocky Flats employees and the various governmental agencies and private companies fighting to keep the horrific consequences secret. An engaging read and wonderfully informative!

Kristen Iversen is a brave whistle blower, the Erin Brockovich of plutonium pollution. And she's a hell of a good writer, making the nonfiction account of government and corporate cover-up of Colorado's Rocky Flats secret nuclear weapons plant activities a compelling, frightening, and personal story. She is a literary investigative reporter, weaving her family's story with convincing scientific data that authorities ignore. She contrasts the mysterious cancer deaths of childhood friends and Rocky Flats workers with the brazen nonchalance of the Department of Energy, Dow Chemical, and Rockwell International. It's a sad, disturbing tale of how citizens, who believe their government is honest and protective, are bamboozled and harmed. And the lies haven't stopped. Jefferson County, the City of Arvada, and Candelas Development are building homes and a toll road through land that is radioactive. Alas, economic development and corporate greed trump the safety and health of Colorado residents.

I believe train car loads of waste from Rocky Flats was dumped
into the Canon City CO dump. It was done at night and unloaded
by Cotter Corp employees; the trucks were unlighted. A truck slipped
off the road during a rain and a neighbor boy offered to help and was
ordered to leave at gun point. He left but he was scared.
When asked the CO Dept of Health said it was only old clothing,
workers gloves, and trash. Nothing??? hazardous. Makes workers
dirty gloves take on a new meaning.

What an eye-opening experience reading this book was. It is unconscionable what was brought upon Iversen's community by the nuclear industry. The deception, denial and lack of regard for human life made me angry. Kristen's sleuthing and storytelling greatly impressed me. This book is sad and disturbing, but very much worth the time.

I have lived in Colorado since 1982, and in Arvada since 1995, and much of this was new to me. It becomes increasingly difficult to trust those who are supposed to protect us (the first job of government) when they lie and cover up. That what was created at Rocky Flats was needed is not in dispute. That they have endangered so many for the sake of saving some dollars is much worse than shameful. That they lie and cover up is sinful. This is a fine read, and worth every dollar and every minute. Thanks for telling your story.

I very much enjoyed reading this book. Kristen Iversen has written a moving memoir detailing her life growing up around Rocky Flats Colorado. It had to have taken a lot of courage to publish this, it will be seen as controversial to some, but it was her life and she has chosen to share it and to educate us about plutonium, plutonium pits, various fires that took place involving plutonium, the list go on and on. Intertwined with the information about the goings on at Rocky Flats the author shares her life and her family's life stories, this is essentially a coming of age story in many many ways!

Excellent! Well written and researched. I read the whole book in one day, and re-read it twice to grasp the true horror of such a massively covered up, man-made environmental disaster that went on for decades and still affects humans, wildlife, and the Earth's natural resources. Personable and professional.

This well-written account of Iverson's childhood growing up next to Rocky Flats was a revelation to me. Having lived in the Denver, Colorado area for over thirty years, I only had a vague idea about what went on there. I never would have guessed that nuclear warheads were being manufactured and under terribly unsafe conditions. This is a book every Coloradan should read.

Excellent expose of many of the hidden truths around Rocky Flats. I wasn't so interested in the author's personal story, which paralleled the Rocky Flats story, but that is personal preference. Well worth reading and leaves you with the stench of total distrust of corporate and governmental powers.

Riveting book about Rocky Flats nuclear facility and the harm it's done to the surrounding area. I was shocked by what I read. Being fairly new to the area, I had no idea of its history. This book is a must read for anyone who lives in the area and wants to know what really happened here.

Well written, but a hard read! This story brings to light many questions for me.. I would love to meet Iversen so we could talk about her future after Rocky Flats. What a childhood she experienced good, bad, crazy, happy.. and then there is the looming evil plant behind her house...So many questions. Would recommend to a friend!!

I am living near Rocky Flats and knew little true information about the plant. Ms. Iverson did an incredible job writing this book even though it is haunting me and making me aware of how many people I know that have lived downwind and have cancer or have died from cancer. I am going to heartily recommend this book to many fellow Arvada citizens to read.

The measured terror with which Kristen Iversen relates the shameful history of Rocky Flats piques our interest, scares us, and makes us see how deceptive and insidious those charged with managing the plant were and are to this day. Iversen's relentless presentation of the sordid facts keeps this narrative a page-turner, and we would do well to note that her ending can have no closure, as it's clear that the lies and smoke screens continued past her publishing date.
The implications and lessons of the local, state, and federal cover-ups of the radiation and danger at Rocky Flats go well beyond Colorado's Front Range. Any major issue in this country is riddled with such blindness, greed, and corruption--let's clone Iversen and send her in to investigate the housing bubble, national debt, state of American education, structural poverty, U.S. immigration policy, U.S.-Middle East oil relations, and environmental safeguards.

Excellent book. Lot's of terrifying facts about the contamination in and around the Rocky Flats area wrapped in an easy to read story. Why would anyone risk living anywhere near there? Not me...stopped me from buying a house in Leyden Rock, Candelas or anywhere in Arvada for that matter.

Well written and terrifying. In light of current events in Michigan and Louisiana the stories of cover-ups and irresponsible practices are entirely believably. I want to write to family members in Denver and recommend they read this book.

Excellent!! The detailed research involved in this book is incredible, plus the first hand knowledge of Kristen Iversen growing up in the Arvada. We also have lived and raised our family in Arvada during the same era. Still drinking water from Stanley Lake, still living on contaminated land, and happily going our merry way in pure ignorance, as most of us from Arvada, Westminister, and Broomfield. The coverup from our government is just too much to accept.
I now have to wonder how many of our illnesses are directly related to Rocky Flats.
Lonnie Warren

I grew up in Arvada and also experience Rocky Flats...reading this book brought back so many memories...but also so frightening...I've lost a lot of family and friends from cancer...I always believed it was because of Rocky Flats

The best discription I have ever read about what happened and is happening to this area of Colorado. I grew up in this same area and as an old man now with a very intimate knowledge of Rocky Flats I can verify that Kristem gives a good, readable story about the shamfull history of the nuclear weapons industy. Her personal recollections give a very interesting picture of the time. If you are planing to raise a family in this area you need to read this book and take it seriously.

An interesting and frightening memoir of living close to a nuclear weapons factory and its radioactive waste. Highly recommended for those interested in the environment and the governments that fail to protect.

The book was well written an extremely interesting. I also live in Colorado remember when much of this was in the news. She did a very good job of tying in her life and all the information about Rocky Flats.

Michigan resident we are experiencing cover ups regarding drinking water. Government has to be held accountable. People need to reclaim what is ours and take our country back from the crooks who lie to us. United we stand.

Nuclear power and government deceit, the cold war and planetary health, family dynamics, and growing up in the shadow of both Rocky Flats and the Rocky Mountains in the 50's and 60's makes for a wonderful story all wove together.

I received this book last week, and once I started it, I finished it in 2 days. I absolutely couldn't put it down. When I read it again I realized that this could have been written about my family growing up here in Richland, WA next to the Dept. of Energy's Hanford site. I've worked at the Hanford site for 37 years, and have heard many of the stories about Rocky Flats from Radiation technitions, and Chemical operators who came up here to work after Rocky had shut down. I can remember some of my friends fathers going to Colorado in 1958, and again in 1960 for "business". Everyone in our neighborhood worked at the site, but very, very few of us knew what our fathers did.
From the very beginning there is a legacy of falsehoods, double speak, cover ups and outright lies that have followed the Atomic Weapons complex all in the name of "national security." Rocky Flats was most likely the worst in this respect, at this point in time. There have been numerous books written about all of this, but this book Full Body Burden is without a doubt the best one I have read. I very highly recommend it to anyone who has the least bit of interest in the Nuclear Weapons Complex, Cold War history, or the cleanup of all of these sites.

This should be required reading in every high school in America, the vendor that shipped my book listed it as new but the margins were full of notes and some text underlined by previous reader, book was in good condition though, I was more concerned about getting used book at the height of flu season than notes in the margins.

A very fine and interesting testimonial about the author's private life as well as her heavy research on the effect of radiation poisoning that effected so many (including herself).

In addition to Rocky Flats, I wish there were other disclosures regarding the effects of other nuclear sites such as Hanover, Oak Ridge, Savannah River et al on workers and nearby population.

Thanks to Kristen Iverson for providing a history of events at Rocky Flats, and overview of the impact it has on those living in the area today. The prairie hills along Indiana St hide a dangerous secret. I always wondered why we couldn't wade in Stanley Lake, I am now disturbed to learn the truth, and drink bottled water.

Great book, lots of good information in this book. Makes you wonder what else the government covers up. It goes from Kristen Iversen's life growing up in the Rocky Flats area to what actually went on behind the scenes at Rocky Flats.

I have so many touchpoints with the author - I grew up about 20 blocks from where she grew up; my dad worked at Rocky Flats; I've even lived in some of the other places she's lived. So reading this felt like I was IN the book. Nicely done, although I would have liked to learn more about her story--it was taken over, in the end, by the Rocky Flats story. However, that was fascinating. It's so strange that I lived through those years and had no idea of the environmental impact that Rocky Flats had.

I appreciated the voice in this story, innocent proximity to an ultimate evil, how she unpeels a truth too few care to reveal. One of the most compelling perspectives in years of attempting to understand, much less affect, things nuclear.

The writing technique intensified the tragedy of the misinformation and government cover up. I'll never be naïve again. My family is directly affected and now I'm questioning circumstances from our past.

Kristen Iverson does a great job exposing mysteries of the nuclear world you never knew before and does it all while telling a great story. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading nonfiction. At moments it definitely keeps you on your toes, wanting to know what happens next.

I read this entire book in one day while traveling - couldn't put it down. Iversen weaves her family and personal history with the history of Rocky Flats - a cold war nuclear weapons manufacturing site in Colorado (now a Superfund site). She has taken what could be an impersonal litany of fires, gross negligence and corporate greed, and makes the story personal, poignant and truly chilling.