Toms River by Dan Fagin

Toms River by Dan Fagin

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE .Winner of The New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award ."A new classic of science reporting."-The New York Times

The riveting true story of a small town ravaged by industrial pollution, Toms River melds hard-hitting investigative reporting, a fascinating scientific detective story, and an unforgettable cast of characters into a sweeping narrative in the tradition of A Civil Action, The Emperor of All Maladies, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

One of New Jersey's seemingly innumerable quiet seaside towns, Toms River became the unlikely setting for a decades-long drama that culminated in 2001 with one of the largest legal settlements in the annals of toxic dumping. A town that would rather have been known for its Little League World Series champions ended up making history for an entirely different reason- a notorious cluster of childhood cancers scientifically linked to local air and water pollution. For years, large chemical companies had been using Toms River as their private dumping ground, burying tens of thousands of leaky drums in open pits and discharging billions of gallons of acid-laced wastewater into the town's namesake river.

In an astonishing feat of investigative reporting, prize-winning journalist Dan Fagin recounts the sixty-year saga of rampant pollution and inadequate oversight that made Toms River a cautionary example for fast-growing industrial towns from South Jersey to South China. He tells the stories of the pioneering scientists and physicians who first identified pollutants as a cause of cancer, and brings to life the everyday heroes in Toms River who struggled for justice- a young boy whose cherubic smile belied the fast-growing tumors that had decimated his body from birth; a nurse who fought to bring the alarming incidence of childhood cancers to the attention of authorities who didn't want to listen; and a mother whose love for her stricken child transformed her into a tenacious advocate for change.

A gripping human drama rooted in a centuries-old scientific quest, Toms River is a tale of dumpers at midnight and deceptions in broad daylight, of corporate avarice and government neglect, and of a few brave individuals who refused to keep silent until the truth was exposed.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR ANDKIRKUS REVIEWS

"A thrilling journey full of twists and turns, Toms River is essential reading for our times. Dan Fagin handles topics of great complexity with the dexterity of a scholar, the honesty of a journalist, and the dramatic skill of a novelist."-Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D., author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies

"A complex tale of powerful industry, local politics, water rights, epidemiology, public health and cancer in a gripping, page-turning environmental thriller."-NPR

"Unstoppable reading."-The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Meticulously researched and compellingly recounted . . . It's every bit as important-and as well-written-as A Civil Action and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks."-The Star-Ledger

"Fascinating . . . a gripping environmental thriller."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"An honest, thoroughly researched, intelligently written book."-Slate

" A hard-hitting account . . . a triumph."-Nature

"Absorbing and thoughtful."-USA Today

Dan Fagin is an associate professor of journalism at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and the head of the Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program. The Carter Journalism Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to journalism education He is also the co-author of Toxic Deception, which was recently published in Nature, The New York Times, Scientific American, and Slate. For additional information, go to danfagin.com.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780553806533
ISBN 10	055380653X
Title	Toms River
Author	Dan Fagin
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2013-03-19
Number of pages	560
Prizes	Winner of Pulitzer Prize (Nonfiction) 2014, Winner of Helen Bernstein Book Award 2014, Winner of Books for a Better Life (Green) 2013, Winner of Books for a Better Life (Green) 2014
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.