by Carey Gillam ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 2, 2021
An authoritative takedown of a corporation that evidently cares little for public health.
The story of a cancer victim’s search for justice against the multinational chemical conglomerate.
In this follow-up to Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science (2017), which won the Rachel Carson Book Award, investigative journalist Gillam once again takes on Monsanto for its continuing distribution of Roundup, an herbicide whose active ingredient had been classified, in independent testing, as a carcinogen. The narrative follows Lee Johnson, a groundskeeper whose non–Hodgkin lymphoma was linked to his exposure to the herbicide. Gillam writes convincingly about Monsanto’s shameful misdeeds. Examining the nature of mass tort cases and medical malpractice, the gathering of depositions and internal corporate records, jury selection and the trial, the author provides consistent insight into the legal process as well as the moves and countermoves of the lawyers involved. The corporation’s deceptive intent is galling enough, but more shocking is the “cozy relationship between Monsanto and the EPA laid out so clearly in the employees’ own words.” In a careful, sometimes overly detailed text, the author builds a convincing case that Monsanto was more interested in protecting the reputation of its cash cow than heeding scientific evidence of its dangerous properties. Gillam is especially good at rendering the complex dynamics of the legal personalities, which adds a further humanizing dimension to Johnson’s story. For their part, writes the author, Monsanto’s lawyers acted with “arrogance,” “hubris,” and a “lack of professional courtesy,” all in an effort to “wear down the will of the plaintiffs’ legal team.” Monsanto’s assurances about the safety of its product gradually unraveled before the court, and the proceedings revealed secret strategies to alter their scientific records and a corrupt regulatory process that turned oversight into a laughable collusion.
An authoritative takedown of a corporation that evidently cares little for public health.Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64283-056-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Island Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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by Colum McCann with Diane Foley ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
A harrowing memoir of grief and love.
An indelible portrait of a mother’s courage.
Award-winning novelist McCann and Foley, mother of murdered journalist James Wright Foley (1973-2014), offer a powerful recounting of the unspeakable tragedy and its aftermath. In August 2014, after being held hostage for two years, Jim was beheaded by Islamic Group terrorists. He had been taken hostage once before, in Libya, but that time was released after 44 days. Undaunted, he went to Syria “determined to bear witness to the horrific bombings and gassings of innocent civilians by the Assad regime.” After he was taken hostage, the Foley family, to their deepening dismay, discovered that the U.S. refused unequivocally to negotiate for hostages’ release, and the Foleys were threatened with prosecution if they tried to raise ransom money on their own. Meanwhile, though, through “an incredibly circuitous route,” several European governments managed to free their own hostages. “They insinuated themselves carefully into the communications system,” the authors write, “got under the umbrella of the emails, and forged their own secret methods that included a network of agents and ambassadors and, yes, even spies.” Foley vents her anger toward the many government officials who claimed they were powerless to help. “The plain fact of the matter is that we don’t care as much for our aid workers or our volunteer ambulance drivers or our journalists as we do for our military,” the authors assert. Foley and her family founded the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation to advocate for the freedom of those taken hostage or detained abroad, and she takes hope from recent legislation, most recently by Biden’s executive order, in support of hostages. Hoping for “answers to help her in the wider work against hostage-taking,” Foley met with one of the terrorists involved in her son’s murder—unsettling encounters that bracket the striking narrative.
A harrowing memoir of grief and love.Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9798985882452
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Etruscan Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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SEEN & HEARD
by Alok Vaid-Menon ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2020
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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More In The Series
by Shavone Charles ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Leo Baker ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
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