The 53

Jason S. Ulsperger

doi:10.5771/9781793609755

Summary

On August 9, 1965, 53 men died in the impoverished hills of rural Arkansas. Their final breaths came in a government facility deep underground while their loved ones were at home expecting their return. The incident at Launch Complex 373-4 remains the deadliest accident to occur in a U.S. nuclear facility. The 53: Rituals, Grief, and a Titan II Missile Disaster analyzes the event. It looks at causes but more importantly at how the mishap has affected daughters and sons for nearly six decades. It gives new sociological insight on technological disasters and the sorrow following them. The book also details how surviving family members managed themselves and each other while benefiting from the support of friends and strangers. It describes how institutions blame the powerless, and how powerful organizations generate distrust and secondary trauma. With an analysis of the event and post-disaster life, their children share stories on what went wrong and how they keep moving forward.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-0974-8
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-0975-5
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 200
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Foreword No access
3. Preface No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
1. Banished to the Underworld No access
2. The White Sands of Trinity No access
3. Giants Sleeping Below No access
1. We Have Liftoff No access
2. Strategic Air Command No access
3. Silo Construction No access
4. Titan IIs in Arkansas No access
5. Project Yard Fence No access
6. Disaster at LC 373-4 No access
7. Confronting Ghosts No access
8. The Desire to Know More No access
1. Sociology and Rituals No access
2. Ritual and Everyday Life No access
3. Structural Ritualization Theory No access
4. Components of SRT No access
5. Ritual Transmission and Transformation No access
6. Other Determinations of SRT No access
7. Recent Advances No access
8. Rituals and the 53 Families No access
1. Research and Definitions of Disaster No access
2. Vulnerable Populations No access
3. Normal Accidents and Recreancy No access
4. The Dark side of Organizations No access
5. Secondary Trauma No access
6. Cultural Components No access
7. SRT and Disasters No access
8. Disaster and the 53 Families No access
1. A History of U.S. Death Rituals No access
2. Psychological Grief and Sociological Considerations No access
3. Other Issues of Sorrow and Death No access
4. Sorrow and the 53 Families No access
1. Case Studies No access
2. Participant Characteristics and Interview Questions No access
1. Employment History and Family Concern No access
2. The Incident and Perception of Cause No access
3. Immediate Disruption No access
4. Ongoing Disruption No access
5. Summarizing Disruption No access
1. Family Turmoil No access
2. Personal Disturbances No access
3. Intergenerational Dynamics No access
4. Summarizing Deritualization No access
1. Family Rituals No access
2. Personal Rituals No access
3. Summarizing Reritualization No access
1. The Disaster: What We Now Know No access
2. Post-Disaster Ritual and Sorrow: What We Now Know No access
3. Recommendations and Future Research No access
4. Burying the Titan II No access
5. Taking a Drive No access
References No access Pages 169 - 192
Index No access Pages 193 - 198
About the Author No access Pages 199 - 200