Who Killed Karen Silkwood?

by Howard Kohn

Book Overview

Current Events, US Politics This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671436546
• ISBN13: 9780671436544
• Release Date: January 1981
• Publisher: Summit Books
• Length: 462 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Reads like Fiction, unfortunately it's true

This Book was loaned to me and I bought my own copy so I could always look back and review. The only surprise was that the Grace corporation did not own Kerr McGee. The pattern of pollution and endangering people's lives without regard to consequences has made this an all too familiar story.

Not Bad, But Try Rashke's Version First

After watching the 1983 movie "Silkwood" (starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher), I became interested in the true events on which the movie is based. I was only able to find two books on the subject - Richard Rashke's "The Killing of Karen Silkwood" and Howard Kohn's "Who Killed Karen Silkwood?". As I read Rashke's account first, it became the benchmark by which I judged Kohn's book. "The Killing of Karen Silkwood" was a more exciting and well-written version of the Silkwood story; while "Who Killed Karen Silkwood?" did offer some additional curious details, I'd recommend that those interested in the story read Rashke's book first.Karen Silkwood worked in Kerr-McGee's plutonium factory in Crescent, Oklahoma, in the early 1970s. As the plant was poorly managed and safety violations were rampant, Silkwood became involved with her local union in hopes of improving the situation. She was quickly recruited as a spy for the 5-283, attempting to gather evidence that her superiors at K-M were knowingly selling defective fuel rods. During this time she was contaminated with plutonium on a number of occasions, under suspicious circumstances. The night she was to hand over her documents to a reporter from the New York Times, she died in a car crash. Though the case was handed over to the FBI, it never received an adequate investigation. Only when Silkwood's estate sued civilly was a thorough inquest conducted. Using many of the same sources as Rashke, Kohn makes a compelling case for the following (though a slightly less compelling case, mind you):Silkwood was deliberately contaminated with plutonium by someone at Kerr-McGee, perhaps on several occasions. Had she lived, Silkwood had a good likelihood of developing cancer because of the significant exposure she experienced.Silkwood was most likely carrying important documents the night she was murdered; among other things, she had proof that 42.5 pounds of plutonium was missing from K-M's Cimarron plant, which is enough to make three or four nuclear bombs.Security at the Cimarron plant was dangerously lax, as were safety measures. Workers received little education in regards to nuclear energy or the safety risks that accompany it, and consequently employees did not take the threat of contamination seriously.Union members' (and particularly Karen Silkwood's) rights were repeatedly violated by K-M officials, who continually interfered in union activities and even began to spy on Silkwood.Additionally, a number of private and government agencies seem to have been involved both with these crimes and their cover-up, including FBI, the CIA, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Justice Department, and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), along with a shadowy network of Iranians, Russians, and Israelis. Even though these claims may seem unbelievable, the story's based on thousands of pages of court documents, including depositions, sworn statements, inte