ABSTRACT
The USA emerged from the Second World War a military colossus. The continuing suffering of the atomic bomb survivors and their children in Japan from cancer and mental disturbance is a reminder of what life would be like for people not immediately killed by nuclear hostilities. A few ‘high islands’ with mountain peaks and valleys are to be found in Micronesia, but most Micronesian islands are tiny specks of land forming atolls, or rings of islands, in the surrounding ocean. The atoll peoples of Micronesia and other parts of the Pacific were in an expanded island world, where the sea was not a barrier to movement but a broad pathway. Photographers flew past the explosions, and published their pictures in popular magazines. Congressmen were there to watch the massive demonstration of American military strength. As planning proceeded Operation Crossroads developed into a giant festival of military and scientific curiosity.
