Abena Dove Osseo-Asare’s Atomic Junction: Nuclear Power in Africa after Independence is a rich, powerful, and important guide through the dreams and realities of Ghana’s postcolonial nuclear ambitions. In weaving together key themes in the histories of global science, decolonization, postcolonial state-making, and African social history, Osseo-Asare introduces her readers to the politics and lived experiences of those most directly affected by these ambitions. Envisioned by Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, the Ghanaian nuclear project, as Osseo-Asare describes it, promised to transform the newly decolonized state into a center for scientific research in Africa and—coupled with its concomitant hydroelectric project along the Volta River, the construction of the Akosombo Dam—help electrify the new country (9–10). More than simply recounting the history of this bold project and its seemingly surprising survival despite decades of political and economic upheaval in Ghana following Nkrumah’s 1966 overthrow, Osseo-Asare skillfully guides her readers through the changing personal and professional worlds of those on the front lines of Ghana’s nuclear aspirations—most notably, the physicists who worked in the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and the community that encircled it.