Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure in the United States
This book will break your heart. Lerner, who plumbed the depths of Louisiana’s suffering in Diamond (2005), focuses on how 12 American communities are affected by their close proximity to polluted industrial sites. The facts speak for themselves as he recounts data collected in legal cases and interviews with dozens of people from each locale, and you cannot help but become emotionally involved in each outcome. The clear message is that low-income neighborhoods (the “sacrifice zones” of the title) suffer disproportionately from industrial toxins, and it is hard to argue the point after reading about what everyone from Exxon Mobil to the Department of Defense (ironically the biggest polluter in America) has done to its residential neighbors. In most cases residents do not want industry to go away, they want it to abide by existing regulations and for regulators to do their jobs. This is the heart-breaking part, because Lerner exposes just how easily rules are ignored. One might want this book to be easy to ignore, but instead, it’s unforgettable. And devastating. --Colleen Mondor