This Atom Bomb in Me — with Lindsey Freeman

From Mister Rogers to radioactive frogs, Below the Radar dives into the nuclear imaginary with SFU Associate Professor of Sociology Lindsey Freeman as she recounts the atomic culture she was brought up in. In this episode, Lindsey is in conversation with Am Johal about her new book, This Atom Bomb in Me, a reckoning with our nuclear past that resonates with the present moment. Through Lindsey’s experiences of growing up in the Manhattan Project secret city, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the book traces the radiating influence of the arms race on American politics and culture. Lindsey also speaks to her current projects, including a trip to Chernobyl, the impact of rain on Vancouver’s social mood, and a fascination with miniatures and the uncannily small.Lindsey A. Freeman is a writer and sociologist interested in atomic culture, feelings, memory, poetics, and rain. Freeman is author of This Atom Bomb in Me (Redwood Press/Stanford University Press) and Longing for the Bomb: Oak Ridge and Atomic Nostalgia (University of North Carolina Press), and editor of The Bohemian South: Creating Counter-cultures from Poe to Punk (University of North Carolina Press). Freeman is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Simon Fraser University and an Affiliated Researcher at the Espaces et Sociétés (Space and Society Center) at the University of Caen-Normandy.