The Killing of Karen Silkwood: The Story Behind the Kerr-McGee Plutonium Case

by Richard Rashke

Karen Silkwood, an employee of the Kerr-McGee plutonium processing plant, was killed in a car crash on her way to deliver important documents to a newspaper reporter in 1974. Silkwood was a union activist concerned about health and safety issues at the plant, and her death at age twenty-eight was considered by many to be highly suspicious. Was it Kerr-McGee's revenge on a troublesome whistle-blower? Or was it part of a much larger conspiracy reaching from the Atomic Energy Commission to the FBI and the CIA? Richard Rashke leads us through the myriad of charges and countercharges, theories and facts, and reaches conclusions based solely on the evidence in hand.

Originally published in 1981, his book offers a vivid, edgy picture of the tensions that racked this country in the 1970s. However, the volume is not only an important historical document. Complex, fascinating characters populate this compelling insider's view of the nuclear industry. The issues it explores whistle-blowers, worker safety, the environment, and nuclear vulnerability have not lost relevance today, twenty-six years after Silkwood's white Honda Civic was found trapped in a concrete culvert near Oklahoma City. For this second edition, Rashke has added a preface and three short chapters that explore what has been learned about Silkwood since the book's original publication, explain what happened to the various actors in the drama, and discuss the long-term effects of the events around Silkwood's death."

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Biography, Crime, Politics, Mystery

388 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Richard Rashke is the author of nonfiction books including The Killing of Karen Silkwood (2000) and the forthcoming Useful Enemies. His books have been translated into eleven languages and have been adapted for screen and television. Rashke is also a produced screenwriter and playwright; his work has appeared on network television and in New York. He is a former Catholic priest.

Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, this is an investigation into the death, possible murder, of the trade union and nuclear safety activist Karen Silkwood. We all know the film, right? With Meryl Streep? Well, where that film gripped this just sends one to sleep.

Don't get me wrong the story is good. Here was a union activist, drawing attention to really appalling safety violations in a nuclear plant. She allegedly got hold of some dynamite files that would have blown the lid off the plant (excuse the pun when plutonium is concerned) only to die in a very mysterious car wreck on the way to deliver those documents which were never found.

So what's the problem? Unfortunately, the writer of this account appears to have done no research into the case themselves. Instead we're treated to a long winded account of the various civil actions taken on behalf of Silkwood's family against the company. If you've ever sat through a trial you'll know how mind numbingly boring they often are and Richard Raske does little to bring proceedings to life.

I'm sorry, I really wanted to like this book, I really did. But instead of being gripped my an apparent injustice, I found myself near sedated.

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Karen Silkwood would be appalled to learn that after her death, Kerr-McGee continued to create and then abandon a long string of toxic sites that were dangerous for the men and women who worked there, hazardous to the environment, and a threat to the health of those who still lived nearby".

The Killing of Karen Silkwood: The Story Behind the Kerr-McGee Plutonium Case by Richard Rashke

I gave this book a four even though I could not read the whole thing.

Not because it is not a good book. But it is SO disturbing. I wound up having to skim quite a bit of it. I have seen the movie and had (mistakenly) thought I read this book earlier in my life but as it turned out I had not.

I cannot see how anyone could possibly read this, even parts of it, and not come away being extremely disturbed. I felt that way with the movie as well. This book highlights all that is wrong with the system and their treatment of Whistle blowers and also makes clear what a brave and special woman Karen Silkwood was. She will never be forgotten nor will her story.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Killing of Karen Silkwood by Richard Rashke is a 2014 Open Road Integrated Media publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange in the for an honest review.

The Karen Silkwood case is one many of you may have seen depicted in a movie starring Kurt Russell and Meryl Streep. This book was originally published back in 1981 and is now being released in digital format with a few updates.

The introduction attempts to draw a parallel between Karen Silkwood and the now notorious whistle blower, Eric Snowden. But, for me the only thing the two had in common was they were both whistle blowers and both allegedly took sensitive documents and therefore broke the law.
The similarity ends there. I'm not sure why this was added to the introduction except to perhaps freshen it up for the reissue , but I didn't think the comparison was a good one in this is case.

The information was well organized and thankfully did not bounce back and forth in time. We start with a little background on Karen and how she came to work for the plant in Oklahoma. We follow her through her days of gathering information, to the car wreck and then the fall out. There are periods in the book that are so dry it is hard to stay focused. It was like reading a technical manual or something. Then we get into the FBI and the incredible saga that was , but it took the focus off of the main story with all the players trying to jockey for power and control and journalist and authors getting dragged into the mix, I almost forgot we were trying to solve a possible murder and expose the motive for the crime. Then we finally enter the trial phase and this will really get to you. Again so much legal wrangling, the wins, then loses, and the final result was just anti-climatic.

The Cimarron Plant , for those who are wondering, was a plutonium manufacturing plant operated by Kerr- McGee from 1965-1975. When 40 pounds of plutonium went missing there was a massive coverup and Karen Silkwood's poking around made someone really nervous. When Karen became contaminated, the company went so far as to claim she did so on purpose to make the company look bad. But, Karen's dogged determination to uncover the truth and expose the dangers in the plant that could have led to many deaths, may have been a contributing factor in her own death.

In 1974 Karen was on her way to a meeting with a reporter from the New York Times. She never made it. She was killed in a single car “accident” before she could completely blow the lid off the inner working of the plant. From that day forward Karen's friends and family became convinced Karen was ran off the road deliberately and was also contaminated deliberately.

Strange coincidental accident? Drugs and alcohol? She fell asleep at the wheel? Or was it something far more sinister? How did Karen become contaminated? We will never really know for sure. What happened to the plutonium? A clerical error is the official explanation, but the entire situation is as murky as the Mississippi River.

Now, I like a good conspiracy theory like anyone else. Sometimes there is enough tangible proof that what the public is being told is not all there is to it or it's a total damage control situation. Mostly though conspiracy theories are spun because of the inability to believe a person died they way they did. Did Marilyn really overdose on pills? Was Princess Diana's accident staged? Sometimes things happen just the way it's reported. But, in this case, there is ample proof that something was rotten in Denmark. From the mysterious way the car went off the road, to the unexplained dents in the side, to the company simply refusing to give answers , the all out smear campaign by the FBI on those investigating the allegations and the mountains of paperwork and court documents, the years the case lingered through the legal system with more losses than wins. The hair should stand up on the back of your neck when you think of the ramifications if only one quarter of the information is accurate. Whatever happened to that missing plutonium? That really bugs me, obviously.

Although I do think the case reeks of a cover up and that Karen Silkwood died under the most suspicious of circumstances there were some theories spun in the book that went beyond belief. Conjecture and facts sometimes have to mix to give us the whole picture, but when you throw out wild theories with legitimate facts you lose some credibility.

The frustrating thing about this case is that after years and years of litigation the case just kind of fizzles out. We will never get the whole story of what happened to Karen that night her car went off the road, or the missing plutonium, and those who should have done the right thing will walk away scot free leaving behind a devastated family and friends as well as a very high rate of cancer diagnosis in the area surrounding the plant.

I do wish we could have gotten to know Karen a little better. Her likes, dislikes and what moved her or motivated her. I think she was a little quirky and had a lot of problems, her job and what she knew about the day to day operations at the plant certainly didn't help her health and the contamination, despite mixed test results may have been the death knell for her years in the future if she had lived.

This case is one of the most frustrating cases I have ever read about. So, little was ever really proven, so many red herrings, so many dead ends and stonewalling and manipulations. A life cut short and all her secrets buried with her, Karen Silkwood still remains a figure of mystery, a women admired for her tenacity and courage and an inspiration to many. 3.5 stars rounded to 4

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Combines true crime with glazey-eyed conspiracy theory, and the really scary part is that it could easily be true. A whistleblower loses her life, maybe because she blew that whistle.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book about an important issue. Unfortunately I found some of it hard to follow and would have appreciated a list of players and maybe a timeline to keep it all clear.

[Heather Fineisen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting story of a whistle blower and the conspiracy of the company that Silkwood was seeking to expose. I have seen the movie and it offers a lot that this book does unless you want more detailed information of the alleged crime against Silkwood. I would skip the book and watch the movie.

[Victoria Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story is about Karen Silkwood who was a whistle blower at a plutonium factory and was killed on her way to give documents to Time magazine. Love love love the movie...this book not so much. Started out great...but the middle was so dry...I was just bogged down in the investigation and hearings parts. The most important part..Karen herself..her work and life was a tiny part of the book. I felt the real story got lost in all the overwhelming information and did not see her as a person like I wanted to. I would recommend this if someone wanted to know all the facts in this case.

[Biggus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Life's too short to struggle though poorly written books. This one sounded interesting, but boy, is it the opposite. Not because the story itself is boring, in fact, I was intrigued, just the author's way of telling it doesn't do it for me. Some authors have the knack, others don't. I see in response to the question, "how do you deal with writer’s block?" he replied, "I just keep on writing and writing."

Yeah well, I believe it. He must've had writer's block quite often in this one. :)

[Laurie Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would not recommend this book not well written does not hold your interest very boring

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admittedly skimmed the 3rd part of this because the trial dragged on with unnecessary details. But I've been wanting to read this for a very long time. Having now read it I must be honest.....I don't think Karen Silkwood was intentionally killed in a whistleblowing coverup. I think the company was trying to intimidate her and she ended up dead as an accident. I feel like Occam's Razor applies to this book: was Karen Silkwood murdered by evil giant corporations (including multiple law enforcement agencies, nuclear corporations, the OHP, and the FBI), or was she an unreliable witness who died in a car crash after fatiguing travel and imbibing drugs and enduring great stress? I do think it's possible someone was following her to intimidate and she accidentally crashed but at the end of this book.....this is a conspiracy I don't buy into.

[Fred Klein · Rating 2 out of 5]

I made it 37% into this book and decided not to continue. I really am interested in learning about Karen Silkwood, what she did, and why she was murdered. Unfortunately, she dies very early in this book, which then goes into minute details about the investigation and cover-up of her death. Lots and lots of names are thrown at you with no list of the people involved to help. I got confused about who people were, and I kept putting the book down out of boredom. I still want to learn about her, but perhaps I’ll look for a documentary or another book, maybe even the Meryl Streep movie. I won’t continue reading a book that is boring me.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

[ebook]

I settled on this, actually an updated later version only in ebook, as an assignment for an occupational health and safety class. The story has everything for such a class, starting with a meticulous summary of the evidence and the history of public perception of the case. It follows with analysis of the social forces impacting health and safety in a factory in Trump country and a Trump industry before Trump. It depicts the complexity of figuring out what really happened.

[Atlantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I put this book down several times, lost where I had it in the house and finally skimmed it-reading fully some parts and skipping others. This was a very detailed (arguably more info than anyone needed) for this story but makes for an interesting comparison considering present day news. A sad story of conspiracy (cover-up, etc.) and bureaucratic politics. Karen Silkwood’s memory has been muddled through the story of early mass production of a hazardous materials and the long-term effects on people as well as environment. An intriguing topic but the author‘s execution was so elaborate and thorough that it is easy for the reader to lose interest in the explanation of union politics and company procedural rules. (Not to mention the tedious courtroom proceedings. )。There is a more concise movie starring Cher, but it is not availble in digital format.

[Melynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is absolutely the best edge-of-your-seat crime investigation book I've ever read. Although it's nonfiction, it reads like a fast-paced novel. Richard Rashke is one of the best writers alive today. I highly recommend this book.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before Edward Snowden was even born, and long before Erin Brockovich made herself a household name, there was Karen Silkwood. Karen Silkwood was a thirty-something woman who worked for the Kerr-McGee plant in Crescent City, Oklahoma. She worked with Plutonium night and day and didn't really have very much training at all in nuclear elements. But she lobbied to start a labor union, and got one started at the plant where she worked. And she lobbied for worker safety and education and better accounting for missing materials. Mysteriously, the more she campaigned for worker rights, the more plutonium turned up in her body. She tested positive for Plutonium in her urine, in her lunch, in her clothing, in her nose. She kept records of problems in the plant and had a meeting scheduled with a New York Times reporter in November 1974 in which she was going to expose the company's shortcomings. She never made it; her car drove into a ditch and she was killed on impact. No brake or skid marks.

This book is the story of the investigation into Karen's last days. It is a pretty good story, once you get to her part of the story. Unfortunately the author twists a whole bunch of CIA/ FBI spy stuff into the mix that doesn't really belong and it seriously detracts from the story. Like I was at the point of giving up reading this book when the story abruptly changed back to Karen. Easily over 1/2 of this book is CIA/ FBI hijinks. It was interesting for like a page or two, not for half the book. I did not realize that this book was so full of this other story or I would have looked for an alternate version of Ms. Silkwood's story. Because of the CIA stuff I can only give this book three stars.

[NCHS Library]

Publisher's Description: "Karen Silkwood, an employee of the Kerr-McGee plutonium processing plant, was killed in a car crash on her way to deliver important documents to a newspaper reporter in 1974. Silkwood was a union activist concerned about health and safety issues at the plant, and her death at age twenty-eight was considered by many to be highly suspicious. Was it Kerr-McGee's revenge on a troublesome whistle-blower? Or was it part of a much larger conspiracy reaching from the Atomic Energy Commission to the FBI and the CIA? Richard Rashke leads us through the myriad of charges and countercharges, theories and facts, and reaches conclusions based solely on the evidence in hand. Originally published in 1981, his book offers a vivid, edgy picture of the tensions that racked this country in the 1970s. However, the volume is not only an important historical document. Complex, fascinating characters populate this compelling insider's view of the nuclear industry. The issues it explores--whistle-blowers, worker safety, the environment, and nuclear vulnerability--have not lost relevance today, twenty-six years after Silkwood's white Honda Civic was found trapped in a concrete culvert near Oklahoma City."

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the book started out really well, telling the story of Karen Silkwood and keeping me engaged. However, the book became bogged down, boring and dragged on when Mr. Rashke described the trial of Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee. I began to skip pages because I found it tedious. And while the investigation after her death was fascinating, I found it a little unbelievable: the NSA, CIA, OK City Police Intelligence unit, shadowy spy school were all involved in her death? It had the makings of a good spy novel, but I found the connection to Karen Silkwood tenuous. If it had been entitled 'Karen Silkwood and the Nuclear Power Industry,' I might have given it a higher rating. As it was, I think Karen Silkwood ended up getting lost in this book.

[Alex Sarmiento · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the few forgotten conspiracies of the culture. Karen Silkwood and her mysterious death are examined with journalistic rigor by Richard Rachke. The rabbit hole goes deep and when combined with an industry that is itself seeped in secrecy and national security then you know the story will go to some dark spaces. That said the cast of characters is vast and keeping track of them is sometimes confusing. Like most conspiracies the questions are intriguing but the answers vague and the evidence scant.

Still worth reading.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything you'd ever want to know about the litigation of the Silkwood case. Most of this is verbal case law. It was interesting for sure, but a bit dry in places. I made it through the whole book. This isn't a book I'd normally listen to, but I saw the movie with Meryl Streep and Cher. I wanted to know more of the backstory. It's all here, believe me. So, this was a great history lesson. I hope this is a warning to all other companies that deal with dangerous chemicals.

[Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had been looking forward to reading this book since I first learned about this case. I find the subject matter absolutely fascinating, albeit horrific. It was just a bit dry, though. Not that I'm looking for lighthearted jokes, a happy ending, and all loose ends to be nicely tied up in a bow, but it is possible to write non-fiction without it feeling like a slog.

3.5 stars.

[Kathrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories like these (while wholly disturbing) really keep my love for non-fiction writing going.

The book seems very well researched and clearly structured and therefore manages to guide the reader through all these crazy layers.

[Tom Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank God for uniond

I really found it interesting how far a company will go to cover up safety hazards in the work place. I've been an industrial mechanic for 43 years I can't imagine not working under union protections. Nothing compares to Karen's story though.

[Tracy Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of information at times, too much. After 100 pages I wasn’t sure that I would finish the book. Wanting to find out more about the trial kept me going. I don’t think it will hold the readers attention. Maybe, going over the players again and again was too distracting.

[Kelly Kinnan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried but I just couldn’t finish. I absolutely love true crime stories but reading this was beyond painful. I said to myself I must finish this, but then I found myself dreading reading. Boring beyond words. Too bad - her story should keep you on the edge of your seat.

[Alexis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book starts off strong and interesting. But, it devolves into a very long and boring retelling of legal proceedings. I couldn’t finish it. Rather than telling an interesting narrative, the author seems more preoccupied with detailing every step of the legal process years after Karen’s death.

[Mihaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a deeply researched book and a deeply disturbing account of corruption of government and corporations. This should be a required read for any sociology or history students! This book broke my heart, and broke my faith in justice in America.

[Wendy Meagher Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Learned quite a bit about how imperfect nuclear energy can be. Not surprising how a large company would hide things. I think she overstepped her boundaries and was killed.

[Edgar Morales · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book at the begging is very interesting but when you advance more pages turns very boring until the end.

[Dena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Because of the movie, I was quite interested in the topic. I just couldn't get into the text and abandoned it.

[Mer · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review https://hardcover.app/books/the-killi...