Uranium : war, energy, and the rock that shaped the world / Tom Zoellner.
2009
QD181.U7 Z64 2009 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection
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Details
Title
Uranium : war, energy, and the rock that shaped the world / Tom Zoellner.
Author
ISBN
9780670020645
0670020648
0670020648
Publication Details
New York : Viking, 2009.
Language
English
Description
xii, 337 p. ; 24 cm.
Call Number
QD181.U7 Z64 2009
Dewey Decimal Classification
546/.431
Summary
The fascinating story of the most powerful source of energy the earth can yield.
Uranium is a common element in the earth's crust, and the only naturally occurring mineral with the power to end all life on the planet. After World War II, it reshaped the global order. Marie Curie gave us hope that uranium would be a miracle panacea, but the Manhattan Project gave us reason to believe that civilization would end with apocalypse. Slave labor camps in Africa and Eastern Europe were built around mine shafts, and America would knowingly send more than 600 uranium miners to their graves in the name of national security. Fortunes have been made from this yellow dirt; massive energy grids have been run from it. Fear of it panicked the American people into supporting a questionable war with Iraq and its specter threatens to create another conflict in Iran. Now, some are hoping it can help avoid a global warming catastrophe.--From publisher description.
Uranium is a common element in the earth's crust, and the only naturally occurring mineral with the power to end all life on the planet. After World War II, it reshaped the global order. Marie Curie gave us hope that uranium would be a miracle panacea, but the Manhattan Project gave us reason to believe that civilization would end with apocalypse. Slave labor camps in Africa and Eastern Europe were built around mine shafts, and America would knowingly send more than 600 uranium miners to their graves in the name of national security. Fortunes have been made from this yellow dirt; massive energy grids have been run from it. Fear of it panicked the American people into supporting a questionable war with Iraq and its specter threatens to create another conflict in Iran. Now, some are hoping it can help avoid a global warming catastrophe.--From publisher description.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [297]-318) and index.
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