{"product_id":"atomic-bombshells-how-plastics-shaped-postwar-bodies-9781478033103","title":"Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies","description":"Bullet bras, bazookas, bombshells, bikinis. In \u003ci\u003eAtomic Bombshells\u003c\/i\u003e, Isabelle Held challenges the usual narratives of how war technologies enter domestic use by following plastics on their journey into women's bodies. Held explores the effects of military-industrial science and the emergence of nylon, silicone, and plastic foams on embodied and expressive configurations of gender, sexuality, and race. She focuses on the United States between the late 1930s with the launch of nylon-whose potential was widely celebrated as the world's first fully synthetic fiber and the ideal replacement for silk stockings-and the late 1970s, when policies began addressing the dangerous health consequences of implantable plastics. Held untangles the complex relationships between chemical companies, the US military, the Federal Drug Administration, plastic surgeons, advertising agencies, the Hollywood star system, go-go dancers, drag queens, and fashion and industrial designers. Using feminist, queer, and trans lenses, she shows that there was never just one bombshell identity. In so doing, Held complicates typical understandings of the shaping and reshaping of gender.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Duke University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/17\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781478033103\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 1.20d","brand":"Isabelle Held","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52403538952373,"sku":"9781478033103","price":26.31,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_47787cf0-348b-4584-9ba1-17e046ff9420.jpg?v=1774969609","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/atomic-bombshells-how-plastics-shaped-postwar-bodies-9781478033103","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}