Atomic Family by Ciera Horton McElroy takes us back to the early 1960s, a very different time from today. Country and family were held in the highest esteem and the “Bomb”, Commies and Red Spies were to be feared and rooted out.

The Porter family, father Dean, mother Nellie, and 12 year old son, Wilson live in the small town of Oakleigh, South Carolina where the bomb was a major concern as the largest employment centre in town is the research and development plant for the hydrogen bomb. The book covers one day, November 1, 1961, as each member of the Porter family confronts their fears about nuclear war. Nellie secretly joins an anti-nuclear movement of angry housewives, while Dean mulls over the secrets that he has recently uncovered at work. Wilson has been bombarded on all sides by atom bomb information. The lessons and drills at school, the warning posters around town, and the fearful radio broadcasts have him obsessed and positive that nuclear war is coming. His parents are looking at the big picture but their attention should be on their own son as it soon becomes very apparent that Wilson’s Cold War paranoia is out of control.

Atomic Family transports us back to a time that I well remember, The “Duck and Cover” drills and the large ticking clock on the nightly news that was counting down our atomic doom were a daily part of life. In this book the author has delivered a well written, layered account of the era and the pressure surrounding our concerns about the arms race. Although a little predictable, this was an interesting read. ( )