Every year for the last couple of years, I've gone through the winners and nominees of the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, and tried to read the ones that interest me, in the hopes that it will expand my horizons and introduce me to viewpoints I've never considered before. I'm so glad I picked up Amity and Prosperity.
It provides an in-depth look at fracking and the small towns that bear this burden so that the rest of us can have the energy we often take for granted. It specifically follows a few families near the poor Appalachian towns of Amity and Prosperity in Pennsylvania, first as fortune seemingly comes knocking in the form of a gas company looking to lease their land for fracking, then the fallout as their water and air become polluted, their animals die, and they cannot puzzle out the cause of their mysterious symptoms and flagging health.
What this book excels at is exposing the human toll of fracking. It juxtaposes the lure of easy money for an extremely poor region with the poisoning of its water and air. It pits neighbor against neighbor as some make it out with money while others must leave their now uninhabitable homes with a slew of health problems. It shows the extent that greedy corporations will go to make profits, even at the expense of real people's lives and livelihood.
This book also details the legal battle that ensued as these families' lawyers tried to fight for their right to clean air and water. It's a long and drawn out battle. And it emphasizes how important a state's laws and its legal/judicial systems are, either in helping the people it swore to protect in their fight for justice, or in helping the corporations that pay its coffers to maintain their right to expand and extract.
This book is timely and relevant. It made me realize that someone has to pay the price for the energy we take for granted. And for those people, being put on the other side of the balancing scale doesn't feel balanced or fair at all.
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