- Published: 15 November 2014
- ISBN: 9780099542247
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 352
- RRP: $29.99
Snake Dance
Journeys Beneath a Nuclear Sky
- Published: 15 November 2014
- ISBN: 9780099542247
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 352
- RRP: $29.99
A beautifully written book – informative and entertaining
Piers Paul Read, Spectator
Fascinating… Snake Dance is nothing less than the biography of nuclear power, the most awesome force humanity has yet unleashed upon the planet
Peter Whittakar, New Internationalist
[Patrick Marnham’s] mastery of a vast trove of material makes him an erudite travel companion…perennially eager to poke about in radiation zones armed only with a wonky Geiger counter and a paper mask
Matthew Green, Literary Review
The travel writing is first class… [A] thrillingly ominous account
Spectator
A superb book on the genesis and use of the atomic bomb
Scotsman
From colonial slavery to the blind potential of scientific exploration to enslave us in turn, he makes a circular journey: the nuclear snake eats its own tail
The Times
The great strength of Snake Dance is to create an atmosphere in which the advent of atomic energy is not just outrageous but tragic
Observer
A penetrating historical x-ray of the first generation of people to live under the nuclear shadow
Prospect
A twisting global journey in his devastating critique of nuclear policy…an honourable refusal to rationalise what boils down to an act of repeated mass murder
Metro
A fascinating travelogue taking the reader from Joseph Conrad’s Congo to the Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster of 2011, via New Mexico… a learned and compelling history of man trying to control the elements. It’s also a clarion call to arms to save ourselves and the planet
Bookseller
This is a humane and intelligent book, and one in which Marnham has clearly been deeply engaged
Melanie McGrath, Sunday Telegraph
Snake Dance is a hybrid of a film tie-in, travelogue, biography and history. It’s a blend that gels through Marnham’s unwavering verve as he follows the trail of a lethal cargo
Christian House, Independent
Impeccably researched and written
Giles Milton, Mail on Sunday
When he wrote this book, Patrick Marnham was compared to Bruce Chatwin, and I can see why
William Leith, 4 stars, Scotsman