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Making a Real Killing : Rocky Flats and the Nuclear West
Making a Real Killing Rocky Flats and the Nuclear West Author:Len Ackland The scary workings of Rocky Flats were far from ordinary. So, too, is this fine book of reportage and history.Kirkus Reviews Just as huge nuclear explosions result from small spheres of plutonium, the story of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant near Denver, Colorado, is much larger than itself. It is about the Church famil... more »y, who came west seeking gold in 1861, stayed to raise cattle, watched the federal government take a large piece of their land for the weapons plant in 1951, and now is busily developing real estate in the booming suburbs next to the contaminated plant site. It is about the government and private corporations that produced the deadliest devices in history for thirty-seven years, concealed problems behind the wall of national security secrecy, and came close to a Chernobyl-scale disaster during a 1969 fire. It is about plant managers who cut corners and citizen activists who challenged the plants very existence. And it is about a community that profited from thousands of jobs and contracts but now faces long-term environmental and health risks. A model of fair investigation, Making a Real Killing offers a much-needed overview of the history of the Rocky Flats weapons assembly plant, as well as a recognition of the sites many levels of significance, from the personal and local to the international and global. As Americans reckon with the legacy of the Cold War, Making a Real Killing deserves a place at the center of our attention. Len Acklands integrity and hard work remind us how crucial energetic journalism is for a successful democracy.Patricia Nelson Limerick« less