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BookBar is Coming Back Fall 2023
The Book Bar reads “ EXPOSURE ” by Robert Bilott .
From Simon & Schuster : “ For Erin Brockovich fans , a David vs . Goliath tale with a twist ” ( The New York Times Book Review )— the incredible true story of the lawyer who spent two decades building a case against DuPont for its use of the hazardous chemical PFOA , uncovering the worst case of environmental contamination in history — affecting virtually every person on the planet — and the conspiracy that kept it a secret for sixty years .
The story that inspired " Dark Waters ," the major motion picture from Focus Features starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway , directed by Todd Haynes .
1998 : Rob Bilott is a young lawyer specializing in helping big corporations stay on the right side of environmental laws and regulations . Then he gets a phone call from a West Virginia farmer named Earl Tennant , who is convinced the creek on his property is being poisoned by runoff from a neighboring DuPont landfill , causing his cattle and the surrounding wildlife to die in hideous ways . Earl hasn ’ t even been able to get a water sample tested by any state or federal regulatory agency or find a local lawyer willing to take the case . As soon as they hear the name DuPont — the area ’ s largest employer — they shut him down .
Once Rob sees the thick , foamy water that bubbles into the creek , the gruesome effects it seems to have on livestock , and the disturbing frequency of cancer and other health problems in the area , he ’ s persuaded to fight against the type of corporation his firm routinely represents . After intense legal wrangling , Rob ultimately gains access to hundreds of thousands of pages of DuPont documents , some of them fifty years old , that reveal the company has been holding onto decades of studies proving the harmful effects of a chemical called PFOA , used in making Teflon . PFOA is often called a “ forever chemical ,” because once in the environment , it does not break down or degrade for millions of years , contaminating the planet forever . The case of one farmer soon spawns a class action suit on behalf of seventy thousand residents — and the shocking realization that virtually every person on the planet has been exposed to PFOA and carries the chemical in his or her blood .
What emerges is a riveting legal drama “ in the grand tradition of Jonathan Harr ’ s A Civil Action ” ( Booklist , starred review ) about malice and manipulation , the failings of environmental regulation ; and one lawyer ’ s twenty-year struggle to expose the truth about this previously unknown — and still unregulated — chemical that we all have inside us .
Stay tuned for a sneak peek of this season ’ s pick for the Fiction BookBar group !
Author , Robert Bilott
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