When the Big Horn wind farm opened six weeks ago in the pastoral fields of the Columbia River Gorge, Washington politicians exulted about the 133 wind turbines that will generate clean, renewable power for 60,000 homes. Gov. Chris Gregoire even declared “Wind Energy Week” in honor of Big Horn’s dedication.

But if you put the same towering turbines near one of the nation’s most privileged communities, off the shore of Cape Cod, the political winds will blow a different way.

Cape Wind is an offshore energy project caught in a hurricane of controversy. Wealthy islanders around Cape Cod’s Nantucket Sound want nothing piercing the blue ocean horizon except their own sailboat masts. And they will enlist as many lobbyists, public relations strategists, and lawyers as it takes to get what they want, even if it means that poorer New England communities will continue to suffer from oil spills and air pollution caused by the region’s fossil-fuel dependence.

Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb, authors of the book chronicling Cape Wind’s long (and continuing) struggle for approval, are unabashed supporters of the project. They are offended that ultra-rich Cape Cod, unlike job-hungry rural Washington, did not welcome windmills for the sake of economic development, a cleaner environment, and a more reliable energy supply.

For the most part, they are persuasive, especially when skewering the wealthy excess and hypocrisy of project opponents. Chapter Five mocks the yachtsmen who gather at their clubhouse for an “emergency meeting” about Cape Wind. They are “men with cocktail-cherry-red complexions and little yellow whales on their green trousers.” And they are so fired up that they immediately donate $4 million to the fight.

In another telling moment, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, long backed by the island’s moneyed interests, declares that wind farms “are not pretty” and therefore should be located in some other coastal area besides Nantucket Sound. The speech led to this Boston Globe headline: “Cape Wind: Too Ugly for the Rich?”

Also pilloried is U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, who is portrayed as selfishly opposing Cape Wind because it might interfere with his sailing hobby. Readers are reminded more than once that Ted opposed oil drilling in the Arctic refuge, making it “awkward” for him to attack a wind energy project on his own turf.

It’s an entertaining window into a world of power and influence that is normally, like most of the Cape Cod shoreline, inaccessible to us common folk.

On the other hand, the book would benefit from a bit of balance. The authors give little or no credence to fears that 130 turbines rising 440 feet above the water might threaten birds, whales, fish, public recreation, aesthetic values, and tourism. In dismissing all concerns as if they are rooted in selfishness or ignorance, the authors draw a moral line too starkly.

Yes, wind turbines are great for reducing global warming and dependence on fossil fuels. Yes, they can help economically distressed places like Bickleton, Wash., where Big Horn recently opened. But they also kill birds. They have flashing lights. They are as tall as 30-story buildings. These are legitimate cons, even if outweighed by pros.

If you want an objective look at Cape Wind, you could read the environmental impact statement, available at http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/projects/ma/ccwf/deis.htm. Its 3,000 pages are mostly reassuring.

But that won’t tell you about the cherry-faced men with little yellow whales on their green pants, sailboat-loving senators, and other Cape Cod barons who have wielded their wealth and power to stall a worthy project. For entertainment value, it’s a story worth reading.