In the twenty-first century, nuclear energy has become a hotly contested issue. In the face of climate change, and the search for alternative forms of energy, nuclear power continues to affect the lives of communities around the world.

In Nuclear Portraits, scholars from Europe, North America, and Asia demonstrate the complexity, controversy, contradictions, and dangers that surround many aspects of the nuclear industry. The resulting local, regional, national, and international concerns that arise, such as the disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima, call into question the optimism espoused by the nuclear industry. We live in a world with more nuclear nations than ever before and energy policy is central to the mounting global concern about climate change. The innovative essays found in Nuclear Portraits will open your eyes to the realities of nuclear energy, thereby allowing you to decide for yourself whose side you are on.

Laurel Sefton MacDowell teaches Canadian history in the Department of History, University of Toronto. She is a co-editor of Canadian Working Class History: Selected Readings, 2nd edition and Patterns of the Past: Re-interpreting Ontario's History, a past editor of the journal Ontario History, and the author of numerous articles.

Laurel Sefton MacDowell's profile page

"Nuclear Portraits is an engaging addition to the dialogue on the increasingly complex impact of nuclear affairs, dominated by the relationship between risk and perception. In an age of "fake news" and "alternative facts," such clarion calls are valuable and necessary."

The Canadian Historical Review Vol 99:2:June 2018

"This is a much-need contribution to nuclear history, one that goes beyond technical, economic, and security related assessments of nuclear energy."

Environmental History 24, Jan 2019