From the Bookshelf of NonFiction Pulitzers…

Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America

Eliza Griswold

Start date: April 1, 2021

Finish date: May 31, 2021

Discussion: General NonFiction

Why we're reading this: 2019 Winner General Nonfiction
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Sep 15, 2019 Amanda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, pulitzer-non-fiction, favorites-2019

When 2019's Pulitzer prizes were announced, I was a little underwhelmed. Compared to previous years, the topics just didn't excite me the way I'd hoped they would. Still, in my quest to read all of the Pulitzer winners, I put them on my list. I had wanted to try to keep up with the winners each year (I did manage this in 2018 for fiction and all three nonfiction categories), so I bought a copy of each and planned to read them.

I have to admit that this book, based on its title and what I thought When 2019's Pulitzer prizes were announced, I was a little underwhelmed. Compared to previous years, the topics just didn't excite me the way I'd hoped they would. Still, in my quest to read all of the Pulitzer winners, I put them on my list. I had wanted to try to keep up with the winners each year (I did manage this in 2018 for fiction and all three nonfiction categories), so I bought a copy of each and planned to read them.

I have to admit that this book, based on its title and what I thought it was about, didn't appeal to me. I didn't think I wanted to read it as a top priority. I'm a little bit unsympathetic to many stories I hear of people in Appalachia, I admit, and so I pushed it down the list. After hearing from a Goodreads friend that this book was very well done, I moved it up a little, and then this week, I decided to go ahead and give it a go. I wanted something that wasn't too long and that might break up the other books I've been reading, which remarkably all seem to be either related to slavery or to World War II (and not on purpose).

I was surprised to find that I really loved this book. It was written very well, keeping me turning the pages almost as if I was reading a thriller. It wasn't what I expected, and what was more surprising is that this story was and is happening in my backyard. I live about 40 miles, give or take, from Amity and Prosperity, towns I'd never heard of but which I've probably driven past dozens of times on my way to somewhere else. The issue of community enforcement of zoning rules for fracking has been one that's come up in my own town, as a company has started fracking near a park one town over. The laws being decided because of the Haneys and Range Resources directly apply to me.

And yet, despite news coverage of the case, I hadn't ever heard anything about it. It's not a complete surprise because I don't tend to follow many local news sources — I really don't need to be inundated with sports news and dire reports of local crimes every day. Still, it isn't often that one of the nonfiction books I read happens so closely in time or space to me, and I think that may have added something to its excitement for me.

What was really striking is that even if the Haneys and Voyleses hadn't signed mineral leases with Range, they almost certainly would have experienced the same problems and level of impact. Additionally, fracking was so new and relatively unknown when their issues started that they didn't necessarily know (and couldn't have known, although they might have guessed) how dangerous it would be for their health and their water.

I found myself being frustrated with the EPA, DEP, and FBI, with the entrenchment of corporate interests and the energy lobby in our government, with the entire state of Pennsylvania, where I've lived most of my life, for their failures to protect the land and the people and for their complete unwillingness to penalize "job creators" like Range. The obsession with corporations as "job creators" is ridiculous. Range can't make money without the natural resources they want to exploit. Those are in a specific location. What are they going to do if you regulate them, pick up the shale and walk it over to Ohio? It's a dumb argument especially re: energy companies. Politicians are more concerned with whom the companies will spend money to elect, which is completely unacceptable, and cases like this help illustrate why that is.

As a note, I did look up the case and discovered that the settlement (which the local newspaper managed to find and publish) was a paltry $3 million. That's in total, for all three families involved. That's before legal fees of 25-33% were taken (well-deserved for the Smiths, but still a deduction) and before taxes. Not to mention the other terms of the settlement, which release Range from all liability and give them the right of first refusal to purchase the land the plaintiffs owned if they sell, and a clause that the plaintiffs (Haney et al) can't say anything disparaging about Range. It's a pretty terrible settlement, though I can see why they would want to take it so they could move on with their lives.

I highly recommend reading this (and have already recommended it to close friends and family). It's well-written and informative, and a good look at how fracking (especially when done recklessly) has impacted one community in America. It's a favorite for the year and highly deserving of the praise it's gotten. ...more

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Apr 11, 2021 Katy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, 2021_pulitzers

A reminder to all, our environment needs our care.

3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 21, 2019 Debbie rated it really liked it

Shelves: family, health, animals, law, small-town-farm, social-commentary, yz-book, non-fiction, women, women-writers

This book made me angry and frustrated but not particularly hopeful. Environment continues to lose in the face of economics. People are excited to have a President who will get regulations out of the way of business. Forget that the business makes those people so ill that the benefits of success of those businesses will never gain them anything but sorrow. Because they are not where the money is actually earned. And they forget that "trickle down economics" is a pipe dream. Pun intended. ...more

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Apr 08, 2021 Donna rated it it was amazing

A fascinating look at how fracking - a method of extracting natural gas - affected residents of a rural area in southwest Washington County, Pennsylvania. The book spans over seven years, from 2011-2017, and highlights the harrowing experiences of Stacey Haney, her two children, and several of their neighbors, who suffered illness and debilitating loss when a fracking operation opened up near their properties. A husband and wife legal team take up their cause and fight a years long court battle ...more

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Mar 10, 2020 Kathleen (itpdx) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, audio

Stacey Haney believed that by being a good person and working hard she could provide a better childhood for her two children than she had experienced growing up in Washington County, Pennsylvania. With some of her neighbors she signed a mineral lease for natural gas fracking for the extra money and she thought it would be good for the local economy and that would help the US to be energy independent. Her neighbor up the hill signed a lease for a drill pad and holding ponds—that became the proble ...more

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Dec 10, 2019 Florence Millo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Amity and Prosperity by Eliza Griswold

This is one of those books that I simply had to force myself to finish. Not because it was poorly written, uninteresting, or unimportant but because it infuriated me and I feel so helpless and hopeless about the problems and processes described. It is utterly incomprehensible that we as individuals and as a nation and inhabitants of the one and only place we have to live continue to befoul and destroy the very systems that give us life. This particular book ...more

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