Jon Else's FRENCHMAN FLAT In-Store Event And Book Sigining
Schedule
Tue Sep 08 2026 at 07:00 pm to 08:30 pm
UTC-07:00Location
Mrs Dalloway's | Berkeley, CA
The story of a single nuclear bomb's deep origins, its test explosion over Nevada, and the lasting environmental and political legaciesAbout this Event
Join us at Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore on Tuesday, September 8 at 7:00 PM when local author Jon Else comes to the store to launch is his new book Frenchman Flat: The Rise and Fall of Atomic Bombs. Jon will sign copies of his book after the presentation.
to preorder a copy of Frenchman Flat.
As the US and Russia let one treaty after another falter and expire, this urgent book reminds us of the terrible price of those tests. Frenchman Flat recounts the science, politics, and human experience of those who developed nuclear weapons, suffered the consequences of their testing, and fought for and against arms control between the 1940s and 1990s. The throughline of this vast, complex story is a 37-kiloton atomic bomb dubbed "Priscilla" that was exploded above a custom-built mini-civilization at Frenchman Flat, Nevada, in 1957. Jon Else uses Priscilla and the bombs that preceded and followed to highlight the terrifying ways we have considered to blow ourselves to bits with nuclear weapons, how near and often we came to self-annihilation, how we managed to avoid it, and what we did to the planet, and to our own bodies, in the process, from wartime Los Alamos to the suspension of US and Soviet nuclear testing in 1992.
In the two decades after Hiroshima, a pair of dramatic stories unfolded alongside each other: the scramble to produce ever more powerful nuclear weapons, and the struggle to ban testing of those same weapons. The dramatic narrative takes in the physics of the megaton postwar bombs, the role of private industry, the near misses of the Cuban Missile Crisis and less well-known events, and the testimony of scientists, politicians, doctors, weapons developers, test-site workers, ranchers, and families downwind of test sites.
This powerful and persuasive book reminds us how we have-so far-prevented nuclear war by deterrence, diplomacy, and luck. It is for the moment a success story, and a warning.
JON ELSE is a documentary filmmaker and Professor Emeritus at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. A MacArthur Fellow, two-time Oscar nominee, and five-time Emmy winner, he produced and directed the first ever film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, The Day After Trinity, and was series producer and cinematographer for Henry Hampton’s Eyes on the Prize.
THIS EVENT is free but registration is requested. Registration ends at 6:00 pm on September 8.
BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.
DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.
WALK-INS will be accommodated only if space allows.
WE ASK that attendees arrive between 6:45 and 7:00 PM for the event.
PLEASE leave your non-support companion animals at home.
OUR shared restrooms are not accessible after 6:30 PM, please plan accordingly.
Where is it happening?
Mrs Dalloway's, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, United StatesUSD 0.00
