rev:text
| - It's high time a museum focused on this nervous, jittery phase of American history was erected, and as many complaints as I have for Las Vegas, this metropolis a mere 65 miles from the Nevada Proving Ground is the perfect place for such an edifice.
The Atomic Testing side of the museum is a warren of utterly fascinating memorabilia, instrumentation, photographs, documents, and other educational installations that I could have drank in for far longer than the three hours we were there.
The Area 51 exhibit, allegedly held over by popular demand, was mostly completely corny and goofy X-files-invoking smarm. There is a segment of it that actually deals with craft tested at Area 51 and memorializes victims of accidents related to the site, and we had tremendous curiosity and respect for this information. Expanding that to fill the exhibit and getting rid of the "ZOMG ALIENS" silliness should be priority #1 for the museum's curator.
The gift shop is also a bit threadbare. Lots of shirts and hoodies, a few interesting books (including Michael Light's enthralling "100 Suns"), of course Peter Kuran's fantastic DVD sets (and some others), and not a whole lot else that really captures the imagination.
All in all this is a must-see while in Las Vegas. For a moment just ignore the shows, hold off on the clubbing, forestall the siren song of the casinos, and trek through this excellently-designed reminder of our own potential and the razor's edge of the Cold War.
Now if only one of those nukes could have gone off course and taken out The Strip ...
|