In an interview with George Mason University’s History News Network, professor Kate Brown shares her inspiration for her new book, Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters, which traces the parallel history of two cities in the Soviet Union and United States through the eyes and experiences of its plant workers and citizens. To uphold secrecy during the nuclear arms race, both governments developed limited access “atomic cities,” and in exchange provided its citizens generous salaries, first-rate education and health care, and many other amenities of modern life. Brown calls these cities “Plutopias.” Unfortunately, …