Whether made of concrete, steel, wood, or dirt; whether buried in the backyard, or tucked away in the basement, the basic premise of the fallout shelter was that it would protect families from deadly radiation and shrapnel in the event of an atomic attack. Between 1950 and 1961 the government, the media, and eager companies sold Americans on the idea of fallout shelters—not only as concrete commodities, but also as vessels for safety, family solidarity, and, above all, consumer goods…
Your Life May Depend On It: Selling Americans on Fallout Shelters, 1950-61, a paper I wrote in 2007.
One in a series of curious research projects I undertook during college.
(Source: dianakimball.blogspot.com)
