Tri-Valley CAREs
Communities Against a Radioactive Environment
“Almighty: Courage, Resistance and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age”
Book Premiere & Author Event with Dan Zak - Moderated by Marylia Kelley
On a tranquil summer night in July 2012, a trio of peace activists infiltrated the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN. Nicknamed the “Fort Knox of Uranium,” Y-12 was supposedly one of the most secure sites in the world, a bastion of warhead parts and hundreds of tons of highly enriched uranium—enough to power thousands of nuclear bombs. The three activists—a house painter, a Vietnam War veteran, and an 82-year-old Catholic nun—penetrated the complex’s exterior with ease; their strongest tools were two pairs of bolt cutters and three hammers. Once inside, the pacifists hung banners, spray-painted biblical messages, and streaked the walls with human blood. Then they waited to be arrested.
In Almighty, Washington Post reporter Dan Zak analyzes the “Transform Now” ploughshares act in the context of America’s love-hate relationship to the bomb, from the race to achieve atomic power before the Nazis did to the solemn 70th anniversary of Hiroshima. At a time of concern about proliferation in such nations as Iran and North Korea, the U.S. arsenal is plagued by its own security problems. This life-or-death quandary is unraveled in Zak’s eye-opening account, with a cast that includes the biophysicist who first educated the public on atomic energy, the prophet who predicted the creation of Oak Ridge, the generations of activists propelled into resistance by their faith, and the numerous bureaucrats and diplomats who are trying to keep the world safe. Part historical adventure, part courtroom drama, part moral thriller, Almighty reshapes the accepted narratives surrounding nuclear weapons and shows that our greatest modern-day threat remains a power we discovered long ago. Almighty is now out in hardcover.
Discussion moderated by Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs
Location: BOOKS INC. OF BERKELEY, 1491 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA
More Info: (925) 443-7148