Learned a lot for this book! I never had even heard of the nuclear tests that took place in Kazakhstan from 1949-1989, with no regard at all for the local population. After reading, actually, the population has survived better than one would think. The cancer rates are still higher than the general population, but not as high as estimated. The name of the test site was Semipalatinsk, or "Polygon" for short. In the minds of the people who have lived there, they think they are legend if they survived. Many think that they are now immune from radiation and other diseases. This was just horrible what the Communists forced on the Kazakhs. In actuality, this was a public health disaster both for humans and animals. Many two headed animals were born as well as children with severe disfigurements. When the Soviet Union fell in 1989, Kazakhstan found itself the owner of the 4th largest nuclear arsenal in the world buried within its mountains. They chose to ask the world community for help in containing it instead of going rogue. The US, Russia, and Kazakhs helped with the clean up. And by cleanup, I mean containment. The plutonium is buried deep within the mountains. I enjoyed reading this although I came upon it when I was looking for the Polygon Wood (Battle of Ypres WWI). 384 pages ( )

Atomic Steppe is the untold story of how Kazakhstan rid itself of nuclear weapons―a remarkable accomplishment for a new nation.