Overview

An in-depth, timely examination of one town’s nuclear power plant, the scandal that plagued it, and the reporter who was allowed inside. Nuclear power once promised to be the solution to the world’s energy crisis, but that all changed in the late twentieth century after multiple high-profile accidents and meltdowns. Power plant workers, finding themselves the subject of public opposition, became leery of reporters. But one plant in Zion, Illinois, just forty miles north of Chicago, allowed unrestricted access to one journalist: the Chicago Tribune’s Casey Bukro, one of the first environment reporters in the country. Bukro spent two years inside the Zion nuclear plant, interviewing employees, witnessing high-risk maintenance procedures, and watching the radiation exposure counter on his own dosimeter tick up and up. In Higher Power, Bukro’s reporting from the plant is prefaced by a compelling history of the city of Zion, including a tell-all of John Alexander Dowie, a nineteenth-century “faith healer” who founded Zion, and whose evangelism left a mark on the city well into the modern era, even as a new “higher” power—nuclear energy—moved into town. With the acceleration of climate change, the questions and challenges surrounding nuclear power have never been more relevant. How did the promise of nuclear energy stumble? Should we try to address the mistakes made in the past? What part could nuclear power play in our energy future? Higher Power explores these questions and examines one American town’s attempts to build a better society as a bellwether for national policy and decision making.

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9781572843233

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Reviews

"“With the swift precision of a newsman on deadline, and the easy grace of a novelist, Casey Bukro weaves an engaging historical tale about the promises and perils of nuclear power. This is simply the best book about nuclear power to date.” —William Lanouette, author of Genius in the Shadows ""A fascinating hidden history that deserves attention. Where religion and nuclear power collide, Higher Power must be read to be believed."" — Robert K. Elder, co-editor of The Doomsday Clock at 75 “Few reporters have chronicled the development of nuclear power in the latter half of the twentieth century with as much depth and precision as Casey Bukro. In Higher Power, Bukro provides a fascinating look at the idiosyncratic history of the Illinois town that gave birth to the modern nuclear power plant. . . It is an illuminating and engaging read.” —Charles F. Whitaker, dean of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University “A powerhouse of a book. . . . [Bukro] provides a compelling trip into the past and a thought-provoking look toward the always uncertain future.” — Rick Kogan, author, journalist, and WGN radio host"

Author Information

Casey Bukro, the Chicago Tribune’s first environment reporter, became “the nuclear reporter” while covering the Zion Nuclear Power Station from the inside, including within hazardous radioactive zones. A leader in journalism ethics, Bukro wrote the Code of Ethics adopted in 1973 by the Society of Professional Journalists and was awarded the Wells Memorial Key in 1983. He served as the society’s national ethics chairman and was the former president of the Chicago Headline Club, a professional chapter of SPJ. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

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