The Angry Genie: One Man's Walk Through the Nuclear Age [Hardcover]

Kyle Z. Morgan (Author), Ken M. Peterson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0806131225 | ISBN-13: 978-0806131221 | Publication Date: May 15, 1999 | Edition: 1

Karl Z. Morgan was a physicist at the Manhattan Project and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he was director of health physics from the late 1940s until his retirement in 1972. He collaborated with leading trial lawyer Ken M. Peterson to write this extraordinary memoir about the dawn of the nuclear age and the moral dilemmas associated with nuclear energy.

A deeply humane and religious scientist, Morgan regards his own role, in meeting the challenges presented by the "angry genie" of nuclear energy, with the same unblinking eye he focuses on government, the military, and the nuclear industry. He tells harrowing tales of radiation accidents and near-disasters, and shows the actual and potential consequences of the clumsiness, recklessness, and carelessness of fallible human beings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Morgan, a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, FDR's secret wartime effort to develop the atomic bomb, is today an outspoken critic of what he sees as the nuclear power industry's willful blindness, greed and hazardous nature. His plainspoken autobiography, written with trial lawyer Peterson, opens with an account of his Manhattan Project work, first at the University of Chicago and then at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where, as director of the health physics division for three decades, Morgan sought ways to protect workers from radiation exposure. With hindsight, Morgan laments his "pitifully limited" wartime awareness of the true risks of radiation, citing recent studies that suggest the nuclear industry's "acceptable" levels of airborne emissions and its contamination of waterways with radioactive wastes have greatly increased the incidence of cancer, cataracts and genetic mutation. He includes a chilling summary of horrifying radiation experiments conducted by the U.S. government, including downwind studies that rained thyroid cancer-inducing radiation upon "expendable" Native Americans. Morgan blasts the nuclear power industry as plagued by endless repairs, shutdowns, high occupational exposure to radiation, a seemingly insoluble waste disposal problem and reactors bedeviled by flawed features. He also warns that the appallingly lax security conditions of Russia's nuclear weapons facilities make them easy targets for terrorist attacks and inside jobsAand he urges the U.S. or a consortium of peacekeeping nations to buy Russia's nuclear arsenal. This personal testament is a beacon in a sea of inertia, recklessness and misinformation. 56 b&w illustrations. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Karl Z. Morgan continues as a health physics consultant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Ken M. Peterson, an attorney in Wichita, Kansas, is recognized by his peers as one of the best trial lawyers in America.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press; 1 edition (May 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806131225
• ISBN-13: 978-0806131221
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #631,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A charming and important book., October 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Angry Genie: One Man's Walk Through the Nuclear Age (Hardcover)

This charming memoir starts in 1943, when Dr. Morgan was recruited away from his happy research on cosmic-ray physics to join the atomic-bomb project. He was one of the four or five persons assigned to figure out how to prevent bomb-workers from irradiating themselves to death. In 1943, it was barely known how to measure doses from the various types of radiation, so Dr. Morgan had to invent many a metering device. Additionally, no one knew how to store the radioactive waste which would accumulate at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where Dr. Morgan detected its escape-routes and tried to plug them. He became an internationally honored expert and author on radiation health-effects and protection measures. This is the story of a man of great integrity, who made enormous contributions to protecting health, and yet by his own standards, failed to succeed well enough. His "walk" through the nuclear age helps to illuminate the suppression of scientific dissent in the nuclear enterprises --- and presents an interesting contrast to books by Dr. Glenn Seaborg (Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission) covering many of the same years. The ninth chapter covers Dr. Morgan's expert testimony for the plaintiffs in two landmark trials (the Karen Silkwood Case 1979, and the Utah Bomb-Fallout Case 1982). The memoir provides not only an important record of moral, legal, public health, environmental, and scientific history --- but it also provides a highly engaging personal story of coping with the unexpected.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Angrt Genie is a must read., July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Angry Genie: One Man's Walk Through the Nuclear Age (Hardcover)

It is commonly understood that only the best books are made into audio tapes. On a whim my family and I put the Angry Genie to the test. We read the book aloud on our annual cross country car trip without one complaint from any family member. The surprize attraction of the Angry Genie is its real appeal to the non scientific person. By just glancing through the book one might assume that he or she could be overwhelmed with scientific material, however, by no means is that the case. In the 180 pages of story, from the amazing experiments under Chicago University Stadium to the many photos of actual players in our history, I was drawn to the personalities and inside details of the developments of a powerful scientific discovery. In fact I most recommend this book because if the surprizing revelations on several fronts. First, the power and importance of science and scientists in this centuary is no more dramatically illustrated than in this story of nuclear power. Not even the terror of 'Outbreak" or the suspence of 'Apallo 13" are equal to the reawakening we get in the Angry Genie. Second, Dr. Morgan was able to input all of the required technical information and formulas in the book without interupting the book's flow. Third, the historical, medical and sociological impact is compelling. There is the letter from Einstein to FDR about the potential of the bomb and the fascinating information about the effects of all the different types of rays on humans. I plan on telling my book club about this wonderful book as well as all my friends who love historical books.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The true story of an unsung hero who saved countless lives., June 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Angry Genie: One Man's Walk Through the Nuclear Age (Hardcover)

I was captivated by Karl Z. Morgan's 50 year battle with powerful elements in the nuclear industrial complex for common sense safety measures. I was appalled to discover the extent of the damage the government inflicted upon our citizens through the abuse of nuclear power and and careless weapons' tests. Even more disturbing is Morgan's summary of numerous radiation experiments our government secretly conducted on innocent Americans. Morgan stands out as a pillar of truth in a desert of deceit. No one can read this without thinking "I had no idea this was going on."