Cold War Massachusetts - (Military) by Joshua Shanley (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Massachusetts played a pivotal role during the Cold War era.

In 1957, the Strategic Air Command established the Notch Bunker, a three-story hardened facility built into the Holyoke Mountain Range near Westover Air Force Base. The state led the nation with a groundbreaking $3 million underground Emergency Operations Center in Framingham, dedicated on November 16, 1963, designed to run state government post-nuclear blast, capable of withstanding a twenty-megaton missile explosion within three miles. In 1964, AT&T constructed a forty-thousand-square-foot underground bunker in Chesterfield, built for both military and civilian purposes, intended to resist nuclear, biological and chemical attacks. By 1966, there were a total of 6,623 fallout shelters in Massachusetts.

Utilizing vintage photographs and maps, local author Joshua Shanley explores the state's bunkers, bases and missile silos and their impact on current emergency planning.

Review Quotes

Cold War in the Bay State

"The book looks at the network of bunkers, communications centers, military sites and missile siloes that have stood the test of time in various condition since the onset of the Cold War in the early 1950s. Through hours of research, Shanley contextualizes this infrastructure with the social and political climate at the time."-- Erin-Leigh Hoffman, Amherst Bulletin

About the Author

Joshua Shanley served as a firefighter-paramedic in Amherst and Northampton for twenty-five years, working with the emergency management team in both communities throughout his career. He is an adjunct faculty member in the Fire Science and Emergency Management Program at Purdue University Global. He now works for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. This is his third title with Arcadia and The History Press.