The Killing of Karen Silkwood
The Story Behind the Kerr-McGee Plutonium Case
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Delphinium Books, Inc
Publishing:26th Dec '24
£14.99
This title is due to be published on 26th December, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
For this edition, Rashke has added a preface and three short chapters that explore what has been released and learned about the Silkwood case since the book's original publication.
Karen Silkwood, an employee of the Kerr-McGee plutonium processing plant, was killed in a car crash on her way to deliver important documents to a newspaper reporter in 1974. Silkwood was a union activist concerned about health and safety issues at the plant, and her death at age 28 was considered by many to be highly suspicious. Was it Kerr-McGee's revenge on a troublesome whistle-blower? Or was it part of a much larger conspiracy reaching from the Atomic Energy Commission to the FBI and the CIA? Richard Rashke leads us through the myriad of charges and countercharges, theories and facts, and reaches conclusions based solely on the evidence in hand. Originally published in 1981, his audiobook offers a vivid, edgy picture of the tensions that racked this country in the 1970s. Now updated, with never-before-revealed names and content, this new volume is an important historical document. Complex, fascinating characters populate this compelling insider's view of the nuclear industry. The issues it explores - whistle-blowers, worker safety, the environment, and nuclear vulnerability - have not lost relevance today, 26 years after Silkwood's white Honda Civic was found trapped in a concrete culvert near Oklahoma City. Rashke fully explores and explains what happened to the various actors in the drama, and discusses the long-term effects of the events around Silkwood's death.
Karen Silkwood is recognized by many as the original "Whistler-Blower". Current events should impel every curious reader to pick up this investigation to better understand how power, politics, and greed still influence America's business interests.
“This riveting book gets beyond the surface facts and simple emotions of the Silkwood case to the fundamental and in some cases frightening aspect of a story that may never be completely told.”—Christian Science Monitor
“An impressive and vital new book, or better yet, just call it ‘impressive and vital...’ meets a demanding test of objectivity.”—Washington Post
“An admirable job of separating what is fact... from supposition, what is theory from what is documented evidence. For that alone, the book is valuable.”— New Republic
“Nobody—not Ian Fleming, not Agatha Christie—could have concocted a murder mystery/spy thriller as intriguing as the Karen Silkwood story.”—The Trial Diplomacy Journal
“First-rate reporting and tight, edgy writing.”—Kirkus Reviews
“A true-life thriller... raises serious and disturbing questions.” —Playboy
“Exciting... important.” —Boston Globe
“A powerful indictment of one nuclear corporation and the nuclear industry as a whole.” —Library Journal
“Chilling.”—Atlantic Monthly
“Suspense is ever-present. Shocks are electric.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“This jam-packed little thriller has all the elements of a best-selling novel. ... There is one catch. It’s all true.”—Florida Sun-Sentinel
“Enjoy this book at a number of levels. ... It carefully reconstructs all the clues. ... It's a quick primer in legal maneuvering, as maverick attorneys challenge the corporate suits. And, finally it's the tale of one resolute but frightened young woman, fast maturing as she stares at death daily in the yellow uranium clouds that choke her workplace.”—Livingston and McLean Counties Union News
“Rashke's account of the massive documentation on the Silkwood case stands up to critical review.... It will remind students of industrial relations of an earlier anti-union period, replete with examples of coercion, espionage, cover-ups, and illegal wiretapping.”—Robert Sass, Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations
ISBN: 9781953002457
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
388 pages