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Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation, by Dan Fagin
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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 AND KIRKUS 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
From the Hardcover edition.
- Sales Rank: #121563 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-03-19
- Released on: 2013-03-19
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Booklist
What was in the water in Toms River? A seemingly high number of childhood cancer cases in the New Jersey town prompted the question, but there turned out to be no easy answer. As Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010) investigated the tragic impact that unethical scientific pursuits had on a family, Toms River unravels the careless environmental practices that damaged a community. The book goes beyond the Toms River phenomenon itself to examine the many factors that came together in that one spot, from the birth of the synthetic chemical industry to the evolution of epidemiology to the physicians who invented occupational medicine. Former Newsday environmental journalist Fagin’s work may not be quite as riveting in its particulars as Skloot’s book, but it features jaw-dropping accounts of senseless waste-disposal practices set against the inspiring saga of the families who stood up to the enormous Toms River chemical plant. The fate of the town, we learn, revolves around the science that cost its residents so much. --Bridget Thoreson
Review
"It's high time a book did for epidemiology what Jon Krakauer's best-selling Into Thin Air did for mountain climbing: transform a long sequence of painfully plodding steps and missteps into a narrative of such irresistible momentum that the reader not only understands what propels enthusiasts forward, but begins to strain forward as well, racing through the pages to get to the heady views at the end. And such is the power of Dan Fagin's Toms River, surely a new classic of science reporting . . . a sober story of probability and compromise, laid out with the care and precision that characterizes both good science and great journalism."--The New York Times
"A complex tale of powerful industry, local politics, water rights, epidemiology, public health and cancer in a gripping, page-turning environmental thriller."--NPR
"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
"Immaculate research . . . unstoppable reading . . . Fagin's book may not endear him to Toms River's real estate agents, but its exhaustive reporting and honest look at the cause, obstacles, and unraveling of a cancerous trail should be required environmental reading."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Fagin's meticulously researched and compellingly recounted story of Toms River families struggling to find out what was causing the cancers that claimed their children belongs on the shelf with other environmental/medical mysteries. 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
"This hard-hitting account of cancer epidemiology in the New Jersey town of Toms River is a triumph."--Nature
"Absorbing and thoughtful."--USA Today
"In an account equal parts sociology, epidemiology, and detective novel, veteran environmental journalist Dan Fagin chronicles the ordeal of this quiet coastal town, which for decades was a dumping ground for chemical manufacturers. Fagin's compelling book raises broader questions about what communities are willing to sacrifice in the name of economic development."--Mother Jones
"As Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks investigated the tragic impact that unethical scientific pursuits had on a family, Toms River unravels the careless environmental practices that damaged a community. . . . Features jaw-dropping accounts of senseless waste-disposal practices set against the inspiring saga of the families who stood up to the enormous Toms River chemical plant. The fate of the town, we learn, revolves around the science that cost its residents so much."--Booklist
"A crisp, hard-nosed probe into corporate arrogance and the power of public resistance makes this environmental caper essential reading."--Publishers Weekly
"Toms River is an epic tale for our chemical age. Dan Fagin has combined deep reporting with masterful storytelling to recount an extraordinary battle over cancer and pollution in a New Jersey town. Along the way--as we meet chemists, businessmen, doctors, criminals, and outraged citizens--we see how Toms River is actually a microcosm of a world that has come to depend on chemicals without quite comprehending what they might do to our health."--Carl Zimmer, author of A Planet of Viruses and Parasite Rex
"At once intimate and objective, Toms River is the heartbreaking account of one town's struggle with a legacy of toxic pollution. Dan Fagin has written a powerful and important book."--Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe
"This book is required phys. ed., a plunge into one of the uglier pits of the world we are manufacturing."--Charleston Post and Courier
"A surprisingly exciting tour through the yawning gap that separates cause from effect. Toms River will fill you with outrage: at the blatant abuses of the bad old days, the weak response of government and--worst of all--the knowledge that it could, and most likely will, happen again."--OnEarth
"Deeply and thoroughly researched, it's a gripping, beautifully told, and thought-provoking account of a human tragedy. . . . Fagin weaves a tight, compelling narrative that exerts an almost novelistic pull on the reader. . . . An important book."--Chemical & Engineering News
"An engaging and well-documented exposé about chemical contamination and the discovery of a cancer cluster . . . Toms River is a cautionary tale about the Faustian tradeoffs between unfettered economic growth and industrial pollution."--New Jersey Monthly
"The complete tale of twentieth-century environmental calamity told in brilliant microcosm as if it were a le Carré spy thriller peopled with a cast of Dickensian characters you'd find in a John Irving novel--from shady waste haulers to reluctant-hero parents . . . The result is remarkable, a landmark page-turner that's part science, part history, part comedy, and pure tragedy. It's also one of the most illuminating, engaging, and deliciously readable books that I've encountered in a long while, period."--Before It's News
About the Author
Dan Fagin is an associate professor of journalism and the director of the Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. His work has been recently published in Nature, The New York Times, Scientific American, and Slate and he is also the co-author of Toxic Deception. Visit danfagin.com for more information.
Most helpful customer reviews
77 of 77 people found the following review helpful.
It's Personal
By Stephen M. DeBock
For nearly seven years, I worked as a lab technician at the Toms River Chemical Corporation. I remember the initial economic benefit the dye-and-plastics manufacturing plant brought to the community and its philanthropic projects designed to ingratiate it with the population. I remember endorsing the company's effluent pipeline and its alleged efforts to be a good neighbor. That was then. Before the knowledge became public that the plant's Swiss masters were following a time-dishonored tradition: from originally polluting the Rhine River, next to polluting the Ohio River, and finally to polluting the Toms River. Before we knew that waste organics were being secretly dumped onto the sandy soil, where they leached into the groundwater, polluting not only individual wells but the township wells too. Before the onset of the cancer cluster that claimed the lives of many children whose mothers' only sin seemed to be unknowingly drinking tainted water during pregnancy. This book delves deeply into the history of the dye industry and the lessons it brought to Toms River--unfortunately, after the fact. The thorough documentation, in the form of endnotes, often provides sidebars that are fascinating in themselves. This is not a book you'll read in one sitting. The science is detailed and sometimes overwhelms. The anguish of the families is palpable. And the political posturing and deception displayed by the players can stimulate outrage. As well they should.
40 of 40 people found the following review helpful.
Excellently written and well balanced
By Miranda
When I received this book I was not in the mood to read about chemical companies' complete disregard for anything but profits or pollution or cancer. However, it immediately drew me in and I read 134 pages in the first sitting. I've also been compelled to tell everyone I'm in contact with about it.
Fagin's writing and structuring is particularly effective in keeping the book lively and interesting and preventing it from becoming overwhelming. He shifts between the specific history of Toms River, of the plant, its employees, and the citizens, and the history of industrial waste disposal, environmental safeguards, and the history of epidemiology, cancer, cancer treatments and research. The background feeds directly into the issues in Toms River, and each section seemed necessary.
While I find science interesting, it's certainly not my specialist subject, but I didn't feel overwhelmed by the information presented. Fagin writes very clearly, and seems to keep the general audience in mind. For instance, if an acronym hasn't been used for a while he reminds you what it stands for (a move I greatly appreciate). There is a real balance in this book, both in the information reported (epidemiology is rarely completely obvious and solid) and between telling the scientific story and the human story.
I highly recommend this book, and really can't find anything to criticize.
113 of 118 people found the following review helpful.
Not Snookie's Jersey shore: three generations of chemistry, greed and environmental politics...
By Long-Suffering Technology Consumer
When I was in high school, my family lived less than 10 miles from the New Jersey title city of this book. In those days, the landscape of that part of Ocean County was not yet populated with the McMansions of New York and Philadelphia commuters. In addition to the stunted pines and pin oaks that mark the Pine Barrens, the area was dominated by the remnants of closed post-WWII poultry farms, some cranberry bogs, gravel pits and horse farms...and not much else. When we roamed the mostly unfenced woodlands between roads often named for mills and creeks, it was not unusual to come across 55-gallon drums whose unknown contents either still oozed or had solidified into unnatural blobs of brightly colored who-knows-what. We gave these a wide berth as we pressed on with the business of being kids. Even though we kidded openly about south Jersey attracting the remains of organized criminals gone wrong, we had little idea what other maliciousness hid behind the many stands of trees and unmarked dirt roads...
In "Toms River", Dan Fagin weaves together the intricate threads of economics, science, politics and personal tragedy in this examination of how both a chemical giant (Ciba-Geigy) and entrepreneurs in industrial waste disposal contaminated the ground water (and to a lesser degree, the air) of a sleepy coastal town. He takes on complex issues to address the history of industrial processes (and the disposal of their by-products), both in Europe and in the United States. He adds narratives on the economics of rural America, the indifference of elected and appointed government officials, the science of environmental medicine, and the dynamics of popular fights against more well financed adversaries when the extent of the human and environmental tolls are realized.
Don't expect a quick read, because the issues are complex and Fagin addresses the science in the detail needed to understand the problems. While I may have grown up in the midst of the events in this book, I had left the area and was living overseas when the popular push back against the perpetrators in this book took place. Until reading "Toms River", I was unaware that Toms River was once a battleground for a very public demonstration by Greenpeace. Fagin describes these events and effectively brings a needed human element into a subject matter that could be easily run over by the scientific and political discussions that accompany it.
Whether you're from New Jersey or not, this book is an outstanding treatment of a tragic American story. Well worth the time!
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