Making a Real Killing

Len Ackland

"[Ackland] skillfully weaves together individual experience with nuclear technology and politics. It's a model of investigation that should be read by all with concerns over the problems that accompany nuclear weapons and power." "YAckland? skillfully weaves together individual experience with nuclear technology and politics. It's a model of investigation that should be read by all with concerns over the problems that accompany nuclear weapons and power." "Making a Real Killing" is a model for making sense of the Cold War Atomic West. . . . It combines personal stories, excellent Cold War historical context, simplified technical explanations of complicated nuclear science, labor history, and corporate history into a compelling narrative. . . . "Making a Real Killing" should find its place not only alongside other recent atomic histories, but also next to the best books on understanding the American West of the last half-century. A hard-edged history of a center of Cold War death-dealing technology. . . . Ackland also serves up a useful summary of American nuclear policy in the Cold War era . . . . The scary workings of Rocky Flats were far from ordinary. So, too, is this fine book of reportage and history. "A hard-edged history of a center of Cold War death-dealing technology. . . . More than offering a history of the plant alone, Ackland also serves up a useful summary of American nuclear policy in the Cold War era . . . . The scary workings of Rocky Flats were far from ordinary. So, too, is this fine book of reportage and history."