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The Poisoned City
The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy | Anna Clark
The first full account of the Flint, Michigan, water scandal, an American tragedy, with new details, from Anna Clark, the award-winning Michigan journalist who has covered the story from its beginnings When the people of Flint, Michigan, turned on their faucets in April 2014, the water pouring out was poisoned with lead and other toxins. Through a series of disastrous decisions, the state government had switched the citys water to a source that corroded Flints aging lead pipes. Complaints about the foul-smelling water were dismissed: the residents of Flinta largely poor African American city of about 100,000 peoplewere not seen as credible, even in matters of their own lives. It took 18 months of activism and a band of dogged outsiders to force the state to admit that the water was poisonous. But this was only after 12 people died and Flint's children suffered irreparable harm. The long battle for accountability and a humane response to this man-made disaster have only just begun. In the first full-length account of this epic failure, The Poisoned City recounts the gripping story of Flints poisoned water through the people who caused it, suffered from it, and exposed it. It is a chronicle of one town, but could also be about any American city, all made precarious by the neglect of infrastructure and the erosion of democratic decision-making. Cities like Flint are set up to failand for the people who live and work in them, the consequences may be mortal.
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review
Megabooks
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Pickpick

The Flint water crisis was a tragedy brought on by a true clusterfuck of people and policies at local and state levels. There were many times it could‘ve been prevented, and it was going on long before the national media showed up. Clark covers the crisis from start to finish and the precipitating factors that caused it. A great piece of reporting!

Megabooks @Cinfhen it may still be on sale on chirp. That‘s where I got it. Or it may be on scribd. 3y
Hooked_on_books I totally agree. This was a terrific, jaw-dropping book. 3y
Megabooks @Hooked_on_books 👍🏻👍🏻 3y
Cinfhen I‘ll l👀k 😘thanks for the tip 3y
94 likes6 stack adds5 comments
review
cwarnier
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Pickpick

This was a very insightful red about the struggles of those living in Flint. I had heard about some of this on the news, but didn't realize it was way deeper than what was said on the news.
I can't even imagine having to live through this.

cwarnier #BBRC #YeahBaby #whenitrainsitpours
I am down to three books left now.
#summerfun
I did finish listening to this while swimming laps. I love my waterproof ear bud. #joysofjune
So not technically on my readathon list, but a great addition.
4y
LibrarianRyan Yeahhh 4y
StayCurious Hello! I am tagging @4thhouseontheleft so she can count your bingo entries 😁 4y
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OrangeMooseReads
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Pickpick

This made me so angry! It also brought some hope in fighting back and making people listen to the problem.
Intense disappointment in what the state of Michigan did to the people of Flint and anger at that and their ignoring the people. And lying to them.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reviewsbylola I haven‘t heard of this one! Stacking. 4y
OrangeMooseReads @Reviewsbylola I hadn‘t either I was scrolling through Libby and found it. I‘m glad I did. The anger is worth it. 4y
33 likes2 stack adds2 comments
blurb
OrangeMooseReads
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My next audio.
One of the many racial issues that makes me so angry. And yes it is very much a racial issue because you bet this would never happen in a predominantly white city and if it did you can bet that it would have been fixed almost instantly and not STILL be an issue.

Emilymdxn Amen, so true and so depressing 4y
OrangeMooseReads @Emilymdxn incredibly depressing. One of the several things that disappoints me about this beautiful state. 4y
38 likes2 comments
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Chelseabillups30

Just and sustainable change requires reckoning with the past even while cultivating a transformational future.

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Chelseabillups30

The wisdom of lived experience must be a valued and necessary part of policy making.

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Chelseabillups30
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Flint, MI Littens!

Does anyone know if this literary festival still gets put on? Who has gone? Who wants to go again?

smilingshelves I just had to look this up! I've never heard of this festival, even though I grew up in Flint. The info I can find online sounds like it's only a few years old. Maybe there was a previous iteration that's referenced here? 5y
Branwen Omg! I've never heard of this but I want to go! 😍 I'm a mitten litten! 😁💕 5y
Books88 👀 I've not heard of this!!! 5y
38 likes3 comments
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Chelseabillups30

Lived experience is as important as technical training.

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Chelseabillups30
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That‘s deep.

💥🤯💥🤯💯🤯💥🤯💥

BookDragonNotWorm 💙💙💙 5y
55 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Chelseabillups30
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DAMN the absolutely visceral reaction that I just had after I read this passage hit me right down to my gut and into my veins!! #truthbomb #fuckpovertylevelliving

🤯🚨⚠️ 🚨⚠️🚨 🤯

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Chelseabillups30

What exact amount of risk is acceptable for innovations that build the economy, the culture, and the great cities of America?

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Chelseabillups30
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How my morning started today! #Bookly #levelup

jessinikkip Nice! Sometimes I wish I had an iphone for Bookly 5y
39 likes1 comment
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Chelseabillups30
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💯💯💯

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Chelseabillups30

When the problems become too large then we must gather together in common interest to find a mutually beneficial answer.

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Chelseabillups30

Michigan lies like a handprint in the water. An assertion of the human self in the wild sea. I am here.

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Chelseabillups30

But when we are all connected to the water, and each other, it is life-giving—holy, even.

review
suzisteffen
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Pickpick

Such a good book about everything that went into this massive crisis. Detailed, but not overwhelmingly so, and extremely well researched and written. You‘ve seen me adding quote after quote, and there are so many more that I could‘ve put up. Just a great book though it‘s certainly depressing that it needed to be written.

suzisteffen 5⭐️ 5y
17 likes1 comment
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suzisteffen
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“Two national studies ... described how hazardous waste facilities were consistently located in places where people of color tended to live. This fact is so persistent that race is the very best predictor of the presence of pollutants, even when controlled for other factors such as income and property values.” #science #FlintWaterCrisis #environmentalracism

Weaponxgirl It‘s so enraging! 5y
suzisteffen @Weaponxgirl so. very. much. 5y
11 likes2 comments
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suzisteffen
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“Cities around the country now felt unable to take their pipes for granted. Flint‘s story was a wake-up call. A 2016 investigation by the National Resources Defense Council found that fifty-three hundred water systems were in violation of federal lead rules.”

***5300***
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Holy crap. #InfrastructureDecade?!

suzisteffen That‘s 106 water systems PER STATE (not that it averages out like that, but HFS). 5y
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suzisteffen
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#FlintWaterCrisis #science
“The accolades made the station‘s Steve Carmody uneasy. He was proud of what the news service had done, but he also thought about what might have been different. ‘It just gnaws on me,‘ Carmody said, ‘that when people were saying they can‘t drink this water in May or June of 2014, I was taking “Don‘t worry, it‘s safe,” as an answer from state officials.‘”

suzisteffen As a journalist, especially a former newsweekly journalist, I feel this. So hard to decide what‘s too much, when people are “cranks” and when they have gotten ahold of something real. #science 5y
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suzisteffen
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“The surge [of people with Legionnaires Disease] was one of the worst-ever national epidemics, and it did not escape the notice of the health care community. But a coordinated response was not to be. What followed was an extraordinary tale of buck passing and turf guarding by an alphabet of agencies: Michigan‘s environmental and health departments, Flint‘s public works department, and the Genessee County Health Department.” 😳😱😡😡😡 #science

suzisteffen This book is one long scream of fury (so far, though righteousness is about to roll like a much less contaminated river, IIRC). 5y
11 likes1 comment
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suzisteffen
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“One EPA official said, ‘I don‘t know if Flint is the kind of community we want to go out on a limb for.‘” O RLY?!?!!!! 🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽 forever.

Weaponxgirl That‘s a disgusting thing to say! Communities need help to thrive with jobs, services and yknow water that doesn‘t poison them. 5y
suzisteffen @Weaponxgirl it is extremely disgusting, yep. Racist AF, and classist too. 5y
suzisteffen @Weaponxgirl my hope is that the EPA official is in jail, or paying off huge fines to Flint, now. 5y
9 likes3 comments
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suzisteffen
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As they say, back on my bullshit again since this FINALLY came back on my Libby shelf. But truly, speaking of bullshit, Michigan and Flint officials ... W O W. #science

Samplergal I read as an ARC. EVERYONE should read this. Disturbing what some people will do to others in the name of power. ( and overt racism) 5y
suzisteffen @Samplergal indeed. I read Mona Hanna-Attisha‘s What the Eyes Don‘t See in March and DAMN. 5y
Samplergal I haven‘t heard about that one. Stacked. 5y
suzisteffen @Samplergal Anna Clark talks about Dr. Hanna-Attisha in Poisoned City, but I don‘t think references the book (unsure yet.) 5y
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suzisteffen
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I keep having to take breaks from this book because I‘m so angry. But the people of Flint don‘t get breaks. Their pipes still aren‘t fixed and they still don‘t have clean water - or democracy. Death to the emergency manager system! #science #watercrisis

Weaponxgirl That‘s horrific! 6y
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suzisteffen
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No one—not taxpayers, not school districts, not the state, and not the federal government—wanted to pay to fix an expensive infrastructure problem. Therefore, many preferred not to know if the children in their communities were drinking less in their water. There was no onus to act if there was no proof.

THIS BOOK IS MAKING ME SO FURIOUS.

Swe_Eva 😡🤬😡🤬😡 6y
17 likes1 comment
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suzisteffen
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So well-written and so very depressing. #nonfiction #science #flintwater

blurb
suzisteffen
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On to this month‘s second book about the Flint water crisis, this one by a journalist.

review
Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

This is a terrific look at the Flint Water Crisis. Not only does it work through the decisions and events that led to the widespread lead poisoning of the citizens of Flint, but delves into Flint and Michigan‘s history and some other mass poisoning events (lead in DC, Love Canal). It‘s really well done and tremendously readable.

52 likes5 stack adds
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catiewithac
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Pickpick

Why read fiction when a true story delivers a page-turning thriller with mystery and murder❓The story of Flint‘s water crisis is a warning to us all to keep up the fight against racism, environmental injustice, government negligence, and personal greed. Nothing symbolizes trust in the public good more than water utilities. 💧

Suet624 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 6y
Hooked_on_books Excellent! I just bought this one and you‘re making me glad I did. 6y
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Samplergal
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Pickpick

Five stars.

Weaponxgirl That's a great review 6y
74 likes3 stack adds1 comment