The Killing of Karen Silkwood: The Story Behind the Kerr-McGee Plutonium Case

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 Now updated, with never-before-revealed names and content, this new volume is an important historical document.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.