Review of Pathways into and out of Nuclear Power in Western Europe: Austria, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and Sweden edited by Astrid Mignon Kirchhoff.

The book under review offers a tremendously valuable opportunity to relativize perspectives on nuclear power. Consisting of five reports on “the political, economic, and cultural conditions of nuclear energy politics” in five countries—Austria, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and Sweden—it was made possible by an interdisciplinary project, the History of Nuclear Energy and Society (HoNESt). The research covered a number of other countries as well, and the five were selected as they “are democracies with a market-oriented economy and a strong civil society” and also “[t]hey have all taken journeys from optimistic interest to national decisions to phase out the use of nuclear power”.