Uranium: Book summary and reviews of Uranium by Tom Zoellner

Uranium Summary

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—whoever could master uranium could master the world.

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 six hundred 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.

In Uranium, Tom Zoellner takes readers around the globe in this intriguing look at the mineral that can sustain life or destroy it.

Uranium Reviews

"Starred Review. [A] fine piece of journalism...he superbly paints vivid pictures of uranium's impact." - Publishers Weekly.

"[An] intriguing investigation of the history of uranium development. ... Complete with exhaustive notes for academic and general readers, this is recommended for every library." - Library Journal.

The information about Uranium shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's online-magazine that keeps our members abreast of notable and high-profile books publishing in the coming weeks. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.

Uranium Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Tom Zoellner Author Biography

Tom Zoellner is the author of Uranium: War, Energy and the Rock that Reshaped the World and The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit and Desire, an investigation into the diamond business reported from six continents, named a Notable Book of 2006 by the American Library Association. He is also the co-author of the New York Times bestselling book An Ordinary Man. Tom has previously worked as a contributing editor for Men's Health magazine and as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. He grew up in Arizona and is currently living in Hanover, New Hampshire.

From the author's website

Author Interview

Other books by Tom Zoellner at BookBrowse