Includes bibliographical references (p. [181]-196) and index.

1. From weed to weapon -- 2. To stimulate production and in interest of security -- 3. Uranium company towns in the American West -- 4. The uranium capital of the world I: Moab -- 5. The uranium capital of the world II: Grants -- 6. Allocation, protectionism, and subsistence -- 7. Creatures of Uncle Sam -- 8. The commercial boom and bust -- 9. Yellowcake towns during the commercial boom and bust, 1970-1988. "Yellowcake Towns: Uranium Mining Communities in the American West provides the first detailed analysis of the four mining and milling communities at the center of the twentieth-century uranium booms: Moab, Utah; Grants, New Mexico; Uravan, Colorado; and Jeffrey City, Wyoming. Amundson brings these places to life with stories of local boosters who hit on uranium as their key to economic growth. Although many boasted of new refineries that provided hundreds of jobs or "Atomic Motels" and "Uranium Cafes" that epitomized their success, few realized the inherent problems of coping with major population swings, infrastructure worries, creeping federal dependency, or the health hazards of mill tailings and underground mines." "Amundson follows the ups and downs of these uranium towns over a forty-year period from uranium's origins as atomic bomb material in the early days of the Manhattan Project and the 1950s boom to its use in nuclear power plants, the Three Mile Island accident, and the 1980s bust. He examines the interplay between ever-changing federal uranium mining policies and the uranium industry, and its effects on each community."--BOOK JACKET.