"Riveting . . . [The book] gives a graphic insight into the chaos and confusion of the five-day crisis."
“A superb and balanced account, one of the few that attempts to set both the accident and the efforts to understand and cope with it into a broader historical and regulatory context. . . Although the book is not the first. . . account of the events of those tension-filled days and weeks, it is by far the clearest and most accessible.”
“An excellent overview of this important far-reaching historical event. I enthusiastically recommend this book for medical professionals and lay-persons with an interest in public health and the environment.”
“An institutional history . . . that is absolutely first-rate and with a very well told story at its core.”
“As a published historian, Walker regards ‘fair and balanced’ as a standard, not just a slogan, and he meets that standard admirably.”
“Gives a day-by-day account of the worst accident at a commercial nuclear power plant in U.S. history.” “This is an interesting and readable book about an important event in U.S. nuclear history.”
“Gives a fascinating description of the decision-making process during radiological emergencies and how one should communicate with the public. . . . This book should therefore interest anyone who finds themselves at the centre of a technological emergency - scientists, journalists and public officials alike.”
“It analyzes the emergency response of industry, state, and federal officials, especially the NRC.”
“Just as a lacquer artist lays down layer after layer of resin, so Walker describes developments in the unfolding TMI drama by creating layer after layer of detail. I was reminded of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.”
“No one has written a scholarly history of the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident in the twenty-five years since the incident. J. Samuel Walker, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) historian, has produced what may be the last book ever needed on the subject. Walker’s thoroughly documented account is a gripping and fair minded tale of the human mistakes that nuclear industry officials and federal regulators made during the accident. . . . The author does a wonderful job of extracting riveting material that the layman can understand out of dry technical reports, memos, government documents, and depositions. This story should be required reading for anyone in business or government as an example of the failure of crisis management. . . . This book is highly recommended for all libraries and students of politics, government bureaucracy, and environmental history.”
“Publication of this book is timely given the renewed debate over energy production, climate change, and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
“Reminiscent in its capacity to grip the imagination of the accounts of the Cuban missile crisis.”
“The heart of the book is a day-by-day breakdown of the accident and the reaction from politicians, media and the public, all told with simplicity and a harsh poignancy. I found the preceding chapters on the history of nuclear power and its opponents as illuminating.”
“Walker . . . has earned a reputation as a scrupulous, fair-minded, trustworthy, and generally centrist scholar.”
“Walker has produced a superb and balanced account, one of the few that attempts to set both the accident and the efforts to understand and cope with it into a broader historical and regulatory context. . . . Although the book is not the first . . . account of the events of those tension-filled days and weeks, it is by far the clearest and most accessible.”
“Walker’s thoroughly documented account is a gripping and fair-minded take of the human mistakes that nuclear industry officials and federal regulators made during the accident.”
“Whatever your take on the still glowing nuke debate, check out ‘Three Mile Island’ for a heavy dose of 1970s zeitgeist.”
"A superb account of the frightening and confusing accident at Three Mile Island in the spring of 1979. Walker succeeds in providing, in suspenseful prose, the best account to date about the crisis. Drawing on the insights gained from all his work over the past twenty years, Walker puts this tale into historical context, and helps us understand the hopes and fears that surrounded atomic energy, and shows how they affected responses to the accident. Prior accounts pale in comparison to this work."—Allan M. Winkler, author of Life Under a Cloud: American Anxiety about the Atom
"This book covers a celebrated techno-political event with authority and dispassion, capturing a sense of the human frailty and heroism that proved both tragic and comic. Walker is that rare historian who exemplifies fairness and balance in a readable style. Three Mile Island details necessary background before establishing a strong narrative, weaving the participants in a drama that many of us shared but none fully understood--until now."—William Lanouette, author of Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb
