Nuclear Power and Social Power

"Rick Eckstein's intriguing analysis sheds new light on the crucial struggles to save the planet from the twin nuclear disasters at Seabrook and Shoreham. His probing look at the financial and investment decisions surrounding these two incredibly expensive mistakes should help us avoid similar debacles down the road." --Harvey Wasserman, Senior Advisor, Greenpeace USA "Nuclear Power and Social Power is written in a clear and occasionally (appropriately) wry and witty style that makes the book highly accessible to scholars, graduate students, and undergraduate students alike. Rather than 'prove' that one or another of ostensibly competing and mutually exclusive perspectives is better than the others, Eckstein weaves together several perspectives as well as several levels of analysis. His analysis is a wonderful demonstration of sociological imagination at its best: he moves smoothly between individual and structural levels of analysis showing how these interact in a dynamic process. I would recommend this book to colleagues teaching courses in social problems, political sociology, political economy, environmental sociology, and social movements." --Davita Silfen Glasberg, Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut "Nuclear Power and Social Power, an exceptional, comprehensive study of the Shoreham and Seabrook nuclear power facilities, offers sophisticated sociological analysis and readable, even entertaining prose. Both theoretically informed and empirically rich, the book sheds light on a remarkable range of topics from corporate power to social movements, from economic development to the prospects for democracy. Rick Eckstein tells a compelling story that deserves a wide audience." --Edward Royce Associate Professor of Sociology, Rollins College, Florida

A critical examination of the Shoreham and Seabrook nuclear power plants and the way expensive corporate initiatives purported as good for social "progress" or "economic growth" actually serve the parochial interests of powerful organizations and classes