"If HBO is looking to develop a series based on environmental politics,
then CAPE WIND: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for
Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound” is a natural for the option, with
the Kennedys sitting in for the Sopranos, Nantucket Sound for the
Meadowlands and phrases like “environmental impact statement” replacing
“swimming with the fishes.” Cameos will include Elizabeth Taylor as the
former wife of the anti-wind-farm Senator John Warner; Warner’s former
mother-in-law Bunny Mellon, the nonagenarian Listerine heiress who
decorated the Kennedy White House (behind the scenes) and helped
establish the Oyster Harbors Club; and Walter Cronkite, who as the
co-authors Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb have it, starts out on the
side of darkness only to turn toward the light, or in this case, the
wind. The setting is Horseshow Shoal, about five miles off the coast of
Cape Cod, where, in 2001, an energy developer named Jim Gordon proposed what he still hopes will be America’s first offshore wind farm, an array of 130 turbines, 440 feet tall, that would create 486 megawatts of electrical energy, the only dangerous fumes being those emanating from
the mad-as-hell multimillion-dollar homeowners on the Cape, Martha’s
Vineyard and Nantucket."
--Robert Sullivan, New York Times Sunday Book Review
“How rare for Sun Myung Moon's scribblers, to say nothing of Rupert Murdoch's salarymen at Fox News, to find themselves allied with the merry pranksters from Greenpeace, who have injected some badly needed humor into the Cape Wind imbroglio….Cape Wind is breezy and informative fun.”
-- The Weekly Standard
“…colorful storytelling about the tribulations of siting a renewable energy project off of Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Cape, a ‘devil’s triangle of entrenched, often inherited, wealth”…”
-- Alex Beam, The Boston Globe
"...fascinating..."
--Faith Middleton, Connecticut NPR
"And so what we have in "Cape Wind" is a lively, engrossing history of a current hot topic, presented with all the gusto of a Red Sox-Yankees debate in a sports bar."
-- New Bedford Standard-Times
“Cape Wind is a fun read, and a fun way to learn about renewable energy. If all the stories on this usually dry topic featured tales of meat hook accidents and characters with comic names, more Americans might pay attention. Cape Wind’s opening scene, of author David McCullough screaming at a Martha’s Vineyard town meeting that Nantucket Sound is hallowed ground, is worth the price of admission.”
-- Laura Vanderkam, The American
"...a page-turner..."
-- Boston Magazine
“An epic battle that pits privilege against the common good in a stunning exposure of NIMBY (not in my backyard) hypocrisy…This true-life tale of a blinding love of place, outrageously irresponsible propaganda, shameful congressional maneuvering, and egregious social injustice is half farce, half political thriller, and altogether compelling.”
-- Booklist (starred review)
“With solid research, years of reporting and a number of colorful anecdotes, the authors present a convincing argument that wealthy property owners, politicians and some members of the local press have done a disservice to their country…entertaining and reads at times like a novel, with suspense built in between the chapters.”
-- Martha’s Vineyard Gazette
“,,,a book that will give some indigestion and others lipsmacking delight…”
-- Barnstable Patriot
",,,a riveting and important book..."
-- Border's, Century City, California
"For citizens wondering what has become of America's once-upon-a-time democratic republic, I know of no better place to begin the search than with a close reading of Cape Wind by Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb. The book joins first-rate investigative reporting with trenchant social commentary; the result is as entertaining as it is instructive. Voters intending to take part in next year's election shouldn't leave home without it."
--Lewis Lapham
"...a great new book..."
-- Sean Hannity
“[A] well-reported assessment of democracy manipulated by powerful federal, state and local insiders, and other not-in-my-backyard shenanigans surrounding plans for a wind farm five miles off Cape Cod... [A] rambunctious, unsparing dissection of ruling-class abuse."
-- Publisher’s Weekly
“ "Cape Wind,' a five-and-a-half-year tale of power and money run amok amid a cast of characters worthy of a soap opera, is a page-turner...."
-- Cape Cod Chronicle
"As a satire of class conflict and the political system in general, Cape Wind is excellent. The authors find the juice in endless council meetings and lawsuits. Some of the real-life characters are reduced to cardboard cutouts to serve the author's purposes, but that doesn't mean the book isn't entertaining and informative. If anything, it should get you to learn more about the project and make up your own mind because the need for renewable energy is only going to grow."
-- Caroline Roberts, The Bostonist
"Pick up “Cape Wind” and read about the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of American public policy. It certainly made up my mind about Mitt Romney – and confirmed my unfavorable views of much of the Kennedy clan."
-- David M. Kinchen, Huntington News Network Book Critic
"Beach reading with a twist ...a hair-raising tale of priviledge and power in mortal combat with the roponents of renewable energy. A wind farm where the Kennedy's like to sail? Not if Mitt Romney can help it."
-- Adam Begley, New York Observer
Order the Book -->Amazon link
