Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation - Softcover

Dan Fagin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1610915917 ISBN 13: 9781610915915

Publisher: Island Press, 2015

Synopsis

The true story of a small town ravaged by industrial pollution, Toms River won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and has been hailed by The New York Times as 'a new classic of science reporting.' Now available in paperback with a new afterword by acclaimed author Dan Fagin, the book masterfully blends hard-hitting investigative journalism, scientific discovery, and unforgettable characters.

Fagin recounts the sixty-year saga of rampant pollution and inadequate oversight that made Toms River a cautionary tale. He brings to life the pioneering scientists and physicians who first identified pollutants as a cause of cancer and the everyday people in Toms River who struggled for justice: a young boy whose cherubic smile belied the fast-growing tumours 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.

Rooted in a centuries-old scientific quest, Toms River is an epic 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.

About this title

Review:

'This hard-hitting account of cancer epidemiology in the New Jersey town of Toms River is a triumph.' - Nature

'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

'Dan Fagin's narrative of the arrival and explosive growth of a chemical plant in New Jersey in the 1950s weaves a complex tale of powerful industry, local politics, water rights, epidemiology, public health and cancer in a gripping, page-turning environmental thriller.' - National Public Radio

'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

'Absorbing and thoughtful.' - USA Today

A thrilling journey through the twists and turns of cancer epidemiology, '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, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Island Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1610915917
• ISBN 13: 9781610915915
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 562