cover image Toxic Nation: The Fight to Save Our Communities from Chemical Contamination

Toxic Nation: The Fight to Save Our Communities from Chemical Contamination

Fred Setterberg, Setterberg, Shavelson. Jossey-Bass, $24.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-471-57545-0

This is a timely account of the ``powerful grassroots anti-toxics rebellion'' under way in many communities. Drawing on interviews in more than 24 states, freelance journalist Setterberg and physician/photojournalist Shavelson describe how people--mainly minority and working-class women enraged over threats to their children's health--are taking action to stop local toxic dumping. The authors found otherwise apolitical people in Amish, Mexican American, African American and other neighborhoods, uniting ``compassion and grace'' with realpolitik to raise questions about the still-unproven health effects of some 65,000 synthetic chemicals. The book probes environmental degradation, the social injustice of ``environmental racism'' and the human anguish of families convinced that local toxic dumps are responsible for diseases and deaths whose causes scientists cannot pinpoint. This vivid reportage on ``American democracy at its messy best'' cries out for national attention. (Aug.)