Desperate
An Epic Battle for Clean Water and Justice in Appalachia
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Desperate
Narrated by:
Gibson Frazier
Buy Now for £19.09
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Narrated by:
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Gibson Frazier
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By:
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Kris Maher
About this listen
For two decades, the water in the taps and wells of Mingo County didn’t look, smell, or taste right. Could the water be the root of the health problems—from kidney stones to cancer—in this Appalachian community? Environmental lawyer Kevin Thompson certainly thought so.
For seven years, Thompson waged an epic legal battle against Massey Energy, West Virginia’s most powerful coal company, helmed by CEO Don Blankenship. While Massey’s lawyers worked out of a gray glass office tower in Charleston known as “the Death Star,” Thompson set up shop in a ramshackle hotel in the fading coal town of Williamson. Working with fellow lawyers and a crew of young activists, Thompson would eventually uncover the ruthless shortcuts that put the community’s drinking water at risk.
Retired coal miners, women whose families had lived in the area’s coal camps for generations, a respected preacher and his brother, all put their trust in Thompson when they had nowhere else to turn. Desperate is a masterful work of investigative reporting about greed and denial, “both a case study in exploitation of the little guy and a playbook for confronting it” (Kirkus Reviews). Maher crafts a revealing portrait of a town besieged by hardship and heartbreak, and an inspiring account of one tenacious environmental lawyer’s mission to expose the truth and demand justice.
Critic reviews
"Frazier has excellent timing, a smooth voice, and appropriate vocal variations that differentiate between direct quotes, written documents, and the narrative. He portrays the multiple people who are part of this story with seeming ease. The work is wide-ranging and deep, with clear descriptions of the complicated search for the source of the contaminated water and the rags-to-riches-to-jail story of the company manager."
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