Gene Smith

IntroductionThe Atomic Age was born in the summer of 1945. Its adolescencelike most adolescenceswas characterized by tantrums, feel-ings of guilt, a sense of living dangerously, and a rapid growthin strength. Though now having passed the age of twenty-oneand technically arrived at manhood, the...

Prologue California: 1954 Dolly Drake got oiF the bus at Sunset and Vine. In the heat-shimmery air the sidewalk seemed to heave as she stepped down onto it in an almost seesawing motion, as if she were standing on the deck of a ship at sea. Her stomach pitched and her head throbbed. Before her...