REVIEW: British bomb legacy lingers in the islands

Abstract

Grappling with the H Bomb, by Nic McLellan. Canberra: ANU Press, 2017. 408 pages. ISBN 9781760461379/9781760461386.

NIC McLELLAN’s Grappling with the H Bomb, is an adroit and readable treatment of the  story of the British nuclear testing programme predominantly in the South Pacific islands. Its chief focus is the series of nine British nuclear tests at Malden and Christmas (Kiritimati) Islands between May 1957 and September 1958. They were then part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC), which was divided into Kiribati and Tuvalu at independence. Malden and Christmas (Kiritimati) Islands are now part of Kiribati.