Isabelle Held, "Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies" (Duke UP, 2026)

In this episode of The New Books Network, Dr. Miranda Melcher interviews Dr. Isabel Held about her groundbreaking 2026 book, *Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies*. Held traces the surprising journey of wartime materials—like nylon, polyurethane foam, and silicone—from military and industrial applications to their pervasive use in shaping postwar gendered, racialized, and sexualized bodies. The conversation reveals how synthetic materials developed for bombs, parachutes, and bomber planes were repurposed into consumer goods such as bullet bras, padded foundation wear, and even medical implants. Central to the analysis is the linguistic slippage between military terminology (e.g., 'bombshell', 'bullet', 'bazooka') and female sexuality, reflecting a broader cultural effort to domesticate and feminize dangerous technologies. Held also explores how these materials were marketed as safe and revolutionary, often leveraging their military provenance for credibility, while simultaneously being used in unregulated medical procedures—especially breast augmentation—before FDA oversight. The episode underscores how the postwar era saw a convergence of science, capitalism, and gender norms, with women’s bodies becoming sites of both technological experimentation and social control. The legacy of this history persists today in the continued use of these materials and the regulatory gaps that still exist. Key takeaways include: (1) Synthetic materials like nylon and silicone were initially developed for military use and later repurposed for consumer and medical applications; (2) The language of war and technology was weaponized to describe women’s bodies, reinforcing hyper-feminine ideals; (3) The medicalization of beauty through implants and padding reflects a long history of body modification, now accelerated by synthetic materials; (4) Regulatory frameworks for medical devices were weak before 1976, allowing untested materials into the body; (5) Design and industry often borrowed from each other—fashion inspired medical innovation and vice versa. These insights reveal how the postwar body was not just shaped by culture, but by the very materials of war.