In Encounters with Rongelap, Richard Sundt chronicles his experience as a Peace Corps volunteer, working among the Marshall Islanders who were gravely harmed by radiation fallout exposure, generated by nuclear bomb testing in nearby Bikini Atoll in 1954. The long-term effects and damage to the environment are described and contextualized within issues of self-sufficiency and sustainability as affected by climate change and rising seas.

Accompanying Sundt’s letters, photographs, and commentaries are the writings of John Anjain, a Marshallese eyewitness to the fallout, documenting the physical and environmental damage inflicted on the residents and their major food resources, coconuts and sea life. Anjain’s account, written in Marshallese in 1968 – 1969 is published here for the first time in its entirety with an English translation by Sundt.

A sequel to this book, titled Connecting Dots: Encountering Outer-Island Life in the 21st Century, by Christine Leszczynski Sundt, was published in November of 2019 through Blurb (no.9756284).