Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town | 
 enlarge | Author: Kelly Mcmasters
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $10.49
You Save: $14.46 (58%)
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Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 205750
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 1586484869
Dewey Decimal Number: 974.725
EAN: 9781586484866
ASIN: 1586484869
Publication Date: April 21, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Shirley seemed to be doomed from the beginning. Founded by a Vaudevillian huckster who touted it as a seaside haven despite the sand bar that blocks access to the shore, the town has been plagued by one disaster after another—a UFO, a childhood cancer cluster, and a mysterious federal nuclear laboratory in nearby Brookhaven that leaked toxic nuclear and chemical waste into the aquifer from which the residents unknowingly drew their well water. This is Kelly McMasters' account of growing up in a cursed town and loving it anyway, and of a girl's awakening to tragedy and to a sense of mission. Told in a deliciously engaging voice, Welcome to Shirley balances the bitter with the sweet, the funny with the infuriating, in an unforgettable story of working class Long Island.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Great Book and a quick read July 19, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I just finished reading this book and it is an easy read. I usually get bored mid-way through a book. This book kept be interested with the mix of her personal stories and factual information about the radioactive pollution that is affecting people in the Suffolk County area. The lab sits on top of the sole aquifer in the area and is pumped into the homes of families within about a twenty mile radius.
I am particularly interested because I live in Shirley's sister town, Mastic Beach. My mother in-law lived there for 20+ years, has no history of breast cancer in her family, never smoked, never abused alcohol and has been in and out of remission from breast cancer. Her oncologist said she is a 'rare' case because she never abused these things and it does not run in her large family. But it does not seem that they took into consideration where she was living.
I remember watching the Montel Williams show when they did a piece with Alec Baldwin in the late 90's about the 13 rare childhood cancers in Suffolk county. They were 1 in a million (or higher) cancers and when you viewed the map you could see where the children lived created a circle around Brookhaven Lab. McMasters speaks of a child in the book that has a one in 4 million case of cancer and how her father finds out there are 28 other cases of it in Suffolk County.
McMasters speaks of the danger this radioactive water poses in everyday life. Shocking revelation after shocking revelation are revealed: it's not just about drinking the water; hand-washing clothes (for instance)the agitation of the clothes in the water releases the water into the air for the person to inhale and absorb the isotopes into the lungs and bloodstream. This also occurs when we shower and the vaporized steam is inhaled and also absorbed through the skin upon contact. The water we use everyday in innumerable ways is the enemy and we can't get away from it unless we get away from the area.
As she grows up cancer seems to envelope the people in her area. She reports of numerous young adults having benign tumors and then going back to the doctors, those same adults now have developed cancer.
Everyone needs to read this book. You never know what is lurking in your backyard and how it is affecting you.
 I too grew up in Shirley! May 28, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
My sister recently came for a visit a brought me this book. McMasters accurately describes my childhood to a T (and I started living in Shirley 10 years earlier). I enjoyed the book until it got to all Brookhaven Lab pollution. I agree with an earlier reveiw that the it reads like 2 books. I do hope that someday Shirley can be saved..........it was a great place to grow up, but I wouldn't want to live there.
 A Work Of Fiction May 20, 2008
6 out of 13 found this review helpful
As other reviewers have noted, this book is full of inaccuracies. Though the author seems to describe a great childhood with lots of friends, a stay at home mother, a family that loves her and a supportive network of neighbors - she also bashes the town and calls it 'white trash' and says that she's ashamed to admit she's from there. Sounds to me like she had an opportunity to make the town a better place and decided to knock it down some more so she could sell some books.
Ms. McMasters also does not view anything but potential atomic waste as reasons for every health ailment that befalls a resident of Shirley. What about the town dump nearby? Discharge from boats on the water? Poor eating habits, proximity to farmlands where various pesticides and herbicides are used. She's basically looking for things to prove her case about BNL being the cause of all the towns ills rather than actually seeking answers.
The stories of her family life were interesting, but the BNL tangent was a work of fiction that doesn't really fit into the book. I'm glad I borrowed my copy from my local library and didn't support McMaster's bashing of Shirley and BNL by purchasing this book.
HISTORICALLY HIGHLY INACCURATE May 15, 2008
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
As someone who is a recognized historian and former resident of the Shirley area, I was truly looking forward to the arrival of this book. Ms. McMasters contacted me several years ago for both information and potential people to interview for it.
After reading it, I have to say about the only thing I can agree with is that what happened to the Shirley area is indeed a sad tale. But I am also saddened that Ms. McMasters, who is a talented writer, would use her talent to distort history to support a thesis. There are just TOO MANY factual errors and half truths here about the basic history of the town to be dismissed as just sloppy work. Because of that I can only say that her far bigger picture of the enviormental dangers both real and imaginary of having a nuclear facility looming in Shirley's back yard is greatly diminished. If you are interested in an in depth review with many of the books errors pointed out in detail just go to The Knapps Lived Here website and look on the left side of the main page in the green area
health and wealth May 6, 2008
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
I just wanted to thank you for the! Having grown up playing in an open sewer on the poor side of a rich town I can relate to your class statements. Moreover having a chronic illness, psoriasis, and an acute condition, a continually detaching retina, the the emotional see-saw of chronic illness and death at the hands of dominating forces was right on point. The reality of class based healthcare and the meeting point between environment and health is on the forefront of my mind and will become a growing societal concern for the next 50 years.
Thanks again for the book as it has impacted my world view.
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