The first ten percent is heart-wrenching, and the last goes on far longer than it should. But overall it's a fascinating book. I wish I knew more about the legal system so I could tell if it was the judge or the lawyer who was incompetent. And now I'm off to look up the aftermath of the case.

I didn't cheat and read the end before I got to it, but I was pretty tempted.

A good book that highlights how big business's attitude polluted the environment. The beginning of the environmental law.... I enjoyed this book

Since I read mostly fiction, this non-fiction book was an interesting change. My mom loaned it to me after she read it. It's long, and at times a little tedious with the legal details, but the fact that it all actually happened amazes me. With so many movies having perfectly tied up endings in cases like this, it was refreshing to see a realistic picture painted.

Since it was a best-seller, I really expected the book to have a happy ending. So I was surprised that things don't quite work out for the main character, and that the case seems to almost drive him crazy.

I'm a little worried I might go down the same path as him: Trying to take on a gargantuan task to try to prove a point a win a little fame along the way. One big difference, though, on my side is that I can make some money by writing articles as I go along. The lawyer, on the other hand racked up $2.5 million in debts to build a case, in hopes of returns that are far larger than that. He went for broke, and wound up broke.

Still, he's incredibly admirable: He fought hard because he wanted to make a point, led by his intuition that chemical dumping was hurting people, even when the evidence was murky.

I bought a Brita after reading this book!

Being local made the case more compelling for me to read. If it was set elsewhere, I honestly wouldn't have enjoyed it as much or cared much about the outcome.

read this book while in Ecuador, it was the first english-lang book I had read for fun in literal years and I remember thinking, wow! I can actually read so quickly in english! it's a compelling, emotional, well researched legal thriller about a very real water contamination and cancer cluster case, and eye opening to the economic, emotional and scientific barriers to proving causality in a case like this

I first heard of this when I saw the John Travolta film of the same name like 20 years ago. I thought the movie was a decent courtroom/legal system movie and when I saw it was based on a true story I had to look it up. If you're into nonfiction books especially ones that deep dive into the legal system and show a lot of what goes into a big time court case then you'll love it.

A pretty frightening look at the Woburn Massachusetts case in the early 80s of the town's water wells being contaminated by 2 corporations that had small plants nearby and leading to a cancer cluster in many young children. Amazingly written, researched thoroughly and very in depth. Honestly reads like a thriller but sadly true.

The author was there as an observer every day for the few years this case went on. It's about 500 pages so kinda hefty with lots of legalese, but it is broken down for the reader pretty nicely...Crazy how one judge can destroy so much

This book taught me more about civil procedure than civil procedure. It also taught me about the corrupting hubris that seems to spawn in the ranks of litigators. Hell — in the ranks of lawyers.