Taking on Technocracy

âAugustineâs broad coverage of the scientific and emotional stakes of nuclear power in both German states amid the Cold War make this a vital read for historians interested in environmentalism and new social movements. Engagingly written, it is accessible to advanced undergraduates as well.â ⢠American Historical Review

âAugustineâs book provides probably the best overview of the history of nuclear energy and society in Germany.â ⢠NTM Journal of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine

âAugustineâs thoughtful history contains useful chapter introductions and conclusions⦠[It offers an] engaging and important story at the heart of the book. As Augustine reminds readers, the story she tells has an open ending. In the era of climate change, as governments struggle to lower greenhouse gas emissions, the future of nuclear power in Germany remains undecided.â ⢠German History

âTaking on Technocracy covers a broad range of developments in the domains of technology, policy, and protest, analyzing them with nuance in the different contexts of East and West Germany. For those wanting to understand why the issue of nuclear power has remained such an important factor in German politics for half a century or more, Dolores Augustine has delivered an excellent study of the long-running debates on the topic and their many twists and turns.â ⢠German Studies Review

âAugustine makes a major contribution to our understanding of Germanyâs path to the abandonment of nuclear power. She reveals not only the ability of citizens to participate in high-level scientific debates, but also how their interventions can cause dramatic political change. Such success stories are in short supplyâ"and high demandâ"in the climate-change era.â ⢠History: Reviews of New Books

âAugustine conveys how Germans on both sides of the Iron Curtain related to the âAtomic Ageâ in the 1950s and 1960sâ¦.[and] offers a fascinating discussion of safety regimes and nuclear accidents in both German states, showing each side as being closely tied to their respective Cold War superpower.â ⢠Environmental History

âAll in all, Augustine does not only provide a fascinating, well-written and insightful integrated history of Germany's variegated engagement with nuclear power. She also makes important contributions to cultural history, the transnational history of (counter-)expertise, the history of (new) social movements as well as the history of science and "public technology.ââ¦the book deserves a wide readership.â ⢠Sehepunkte

âIn her combined analyses of social history, popular culture, social movement theory, and the history of science and technology, Dolores L. Augustine offers an outstanding and extremely recommendable narrative of a key episode in recent historyâ"not only German, but by definition, also European.â ⢠Technology and Culture

âHer book is the result of in-depth archival research, especially in newspaper and TV archives. It thus looks at changing public opinion through the lens of published opinions (including editorials), while also reviewing the developing discourse on nuclear safety among activists and scientistsâ¦[Her] book will hopefully help spur a renewed discussion about nuclear power.â ⢠German Politics & Society

âAn exceptionally well-written and comprehensive book on the history of nuclear power in Germany in the second half of the twentieth century. Scholars of antinuclear activism and citizen science, regardless of regional specialty, would find it especially interesting, as Augustine digs into what makes the German case unique but also conside