"A superb account of the frightening and confusing accident at Three Mile Island in the spring of 1979. Walker succeeds in providing, in suspenseful prose, the best account to date about the crisis. Drawing on the insights gained from all his work over the past twenty years, Walker puts this tale into historical context, and helps us understand the hopes and fears that surrounded atomic energy, and shows how they affected responses to the accident. Prior accounts pale in comparison to this work."--Allan M. Winkler, author of Life Under a Cloud: American Anxiety about the Atom

"This book covers a celebrated techno-political event with authority and dispassion, capturing a sense of the human frailty and heroism that proved both tragic and comic. Walker is that rare historian who exemplifies fairness and balance in a readable style. Three Mile Island details necessary background before establishing a strong narrative, weaving the participants in a drama that many of us shared but none fully understood--until now."--William Lanouette, author of Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb