The Killing of Karen Silkwood - 2nd Edition by Richard Rashke (Paperback)

About the Book

Karen Silkwood, a plutonium processing plant employee, was killed in a car crash on her way to deliver important documents about health and safety issues at the plant to a newspaper reporter in 1974. This books investigates her death.

Book Synopsis

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 twenty-eight 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 book offers a vivid, edgy picture of the tensions that racked this country in the 1970s. However, the volume is not only an important historical document.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, twenty-six years after Silkwood's white Honda Civic was found trapped in a concrete culvert near Oklahoma City. For this second edition, Rashke has added a preface and three short chapters that explore what has been learned about Silkwood since the book's original publication, explain what happened to the various actors in the drama, and discuss the long-term effects of the events around Silkwood's death.

Review Quotes

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.

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.

About the Author

Richard Rashke lives in Washington, D.C. He has written several plays and screenplays, and his books include Escape from Sobibor and Runaway Father. Kate Bronfenbrenner, Director of Labor Education Research for the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, was the winner of the first Karen Silkwood Award granted by the Labor Party for courage in telling the truth about workers' rights.