A reporter tells his account of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident. Fast - paced with some black and white photos. ( )

In the first chapter, Hampton relives the terror of the atomic bomb on the people of Hiroshima. Using reactions from the scientific community at the time, Hampton explains how public perception about nuclear ability shifted to allow the development of nuclear energy plants. Hampton’s insider knowledge about the workings of the press, gives this book a human edge, especially as we realize that the same destructive forces that killed so many in Hiroshima, threaten the very same reporters who are standing in easy wind-shot of the doomed Three Mile Island reactor. Hampton reveals the defensive misinformation supplied by both the government and the power companies. In the book is the argument about the importance of a free, independent press trying to balance the need for passing along important information against the possible destructive panic that the information could generate. Along the way, readers find themselves learning something about the way reactors, governments, and the press work. Physics teachers and other science teachers will find much to use in this book that also reads like a novel. ( )