According to Koppel, a four-decades-plus veteran of ABC News who has won literally dozens of awards (e.g., 42 Emmys), America is completely unprepared for the consequences of a major cyberattack on its power grid, which would be no light, heat, running water, or sewage treatment and no place to get information or money. At least he suggests ways to protect ourselves.

Veteran ABC television newsman Koppel has worked with big problems for most of his career. Here he looks primarily at the electrical grid supporting our modern society. Koppel examines how an attack on it might take place, originating from both other nations and individuals; how unprepared the U.S. government and companies are to deal with such an event; and how difficult it will be for citizens and organizations to cope with a long-term outage (of months or even years). The experts Koppel interviewed, and the other sources he consulted all highlight the interconnectedness and vulnerability of this vital infrastructure and what we must do to protect it. One theme is that we have long been a reactive society, when a vigorous and coordinated proactive approach, while expensive, would return much better results in the long run. The threat is real, complicated, and growing; as it stands, individual survival if the lights go out will be extremely hard. VERDICT Easy to read and understand; recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, 5/4/15.]—Daniel Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL