There are occasional wonderful touches, as when Gibbs describes the homeowners' appropriation of expert status at a 1979 meeting with Axelrod. These are the ingredients with which a gripping history may someday be fashioned by a storyteller with a different agenda. The book's inspiration, one has to conclude, is ultimately more forensic than academic. Mazur himself seems to relish the role of judge, able to cast a cold eye on others' heated accounts and to sort fact from fancy. People forget, move away, or die, as indeed did happen in the case of David Axelrod, a remarkable public servant whom Mazur aptly characterizes as the tragic hero of Love Canal.
New narratives intervene, adding confusion to an already-cacophonous story.
In a court of law, a rejudging of responsibility for Love Canal would have been barred by a statute of limitations. History, to be sure, admits no such restriction, but Mazur, alas, is no historian. Finally, it is interesting to observe that recent policymaking bodies have been, if anything, more charitable toward citizen perceptions and participation than the author of this book. Similar recommendations have come from committees of the National Research Council. Impersonal policymaking bodies, it appears, can learn from experience.