This book investigates the systemic failures and complex decision-making processes that led to the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) collapse, which remains the largest municipal default in United States history. D. Victor Anderson examines the trajectory of the organization from its inception as a modest utility consortium to its ambitious expansion into nuclear energy. By analyzing the interplay between corporate governance, political pressure, and individual leadership, the author reconstructs the sequence of events that transformed a regional utility project into a financial catastrophe.

Experts and historians recognize this work as a definitive account of the WPPSS crisis due to its meticulous documentation of the administrative collapse. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a thorough examination of the bureaucratic and economic factors at play.