A Civil Action

This book provides an in-depth view into the intricacies and challenges of complex tort litigation. It is also a classic David and Goliath story, but this time Goliath wins. It does drag somewhat at times.

Good experience with the seller. The book is great if you're interested in the environmental movement and the history of Superfund sites in the US. Certainly, it gives a nice portrait of the early resistance to environmental clean up, and I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about today.

Incredible, documentary type, insider view of how our legal system (doesn't) works.

Fascism, the lock-step collusion of Government and Industry, is an apt description of the current social and environmental collapse that is taking place. And it is currently being assisted by a right-wing SCOTUS.

US Law 101.

Jonathan Harr had the extremely rare (and perhaps unique) opportunity of following a major lawsuit “as an observer from within,” with complete access to witness preparation and legal strategy sessions and with the understanding that the urban tort firm that granted permission would have no right to read or revise his manuscript before publication. Furthermore, Harr had the literary gifts to make the most of this unusual vantage point and write the finest book about a contemporary legal case I’ve ever read. Noteworthy are the number of previous the store reviewers who were required to read this book for some college or law school class and liked it anyway.

Though Harr clearly sympathizes with the people of Woburn, Massachusetts, whose physical and mental health was almost certainly damaged by corporate dumping of toxic waste, his protagonist, Jan Schlichtmann, comes across less as hero than monomaniac, a hotshot tort lawyer who, in the end, puts his ego (and possibly his greed) before his clients’ best interests and eventually slides into insolvency and near insanity.

The Woburn tale also provides sobering reflections about the sorts of games that can be played within the adversary system: how steadfast liars can win, how much of the truth can be concealed during the “discovery” process, and how a steady application of corporate legal and financial resources can quash even the most aggressive plaintiffs’ lawyers with visions of countless millions dancing in their heads.

One of the most well written non fiction books that I’ve ever read. It reads more like a top notch thriller or an espionage novel. Civil Action truly adds a depth of suspicion about corporate activities and the fouling of our most basic needs—clean water, clean air, toxic waste disposal. Terrifying but enlightening. What are these companies doing when we’re not looking? And I’m not even going to go into the mess of the legal system that protects those with the biggest pocketbooks.

This book is about a toxic torts case taking place in Woburn, MA (near Boston) in the 1980's, led by a relatively young but hardworking, tireless and relentless lawyer (and his partners/associates at his law firm) on behalf of 8 families, who either lost their children to leukemia or whose children had leukemia. The basis of the lawsuit was the discovery of a leukemia cluster that developed in a small area of Woburn, which the families only discovered years after their children have been afflicted with the disease. The lawsuit took many years, many lawyers, many twists and turns and a lot of money. As the rest would be a spoiler, I'll stop here.

The author spent many years essentially living at the law firm that commenced the lawsuit against the companies that allegedly polluted the river with chemicals and caused leukemia in children of the families. He also spent much time speaking to the opposing attorneys (those defending their corporate clients), the judge on the case, witnesses, jurors and others. His research included immersing himself in the academic legal, medical and scientific literature from the leading authorities in the respective fields.

The prose is essentially conversational and quick paced. Legal, medical and scientific issues are explained superbly, with precision and concision (as an attorney with a background in biology, I found his explanations accurate). The book truly reads like a fiction suspense thriller. Once I got immersed into it after about 15 pages, I couldn't put it down. I read it mostly on the train, during my lunch breaks at work, before bedtime and anywhere else I found even some 10-15 mins. I finished this 500 page book in exactly 2 weeks.

The focus of the book is the legal case and the complex legal, medical and scientific issues involved in it. The author keeps this focus fairly tight and narrow, with little to say about the legal and medical system as a whole, or about any relevant history. This has its advantages and drawbacks. It makes the book easier to follow and understand and allows the reader to develop a sort of a tunnel vision with respect to the storyline and the narrative. However, it arguably makes the book less interesting in terms of thinking about the issues more broadly and systemically. I would have preferred a broader and deeper focus, but its narrow focus doesn't take anything away from the author's fluid writing style, his immense research and a way of keeping the reader in suspense and wanting to read more.

However, even despite the book's narrow focus, it illustrates well the many problems that exist in our legal system, from rules of evidence to appeals, and compounded by the uncertain and complex scientific and medical issues. If one is genuinely interested in any of these issues, this book would be a good starting point.

All in all, this book would be very appealing to lawyers, especially young or aspiring ones, but also to any professional and educated citizens. Highly recommended!

Jonathan Harr had the extremely rare (and perhaps unique) opportunity of following a major lawsuit “as an observer from within,” with complete access to witness preparation and legal strategy sessions and with the understanding that the urban tort firm that granted permission would have no right to read or revise his manuscript before publication. Furthermore, Harr had the literary gifts to make the most of this unusual vantage point and write the finest book about a contemporary legal case I’ve ever read. Noteworthy are the number of previous the store reviewers who were required to read this book for some college or law school class and liked it anyway.

Though Harr clearly sympathizes with the people of Woburn, Massachusetts, whose physical and mental health was almost certainly damaged by corporate dumping of toxic waste, his protagonist, Jan Schlichtmann, comes across less as hero than monomaniac, a hotshot tort lawyer who, in the end, puts his ego (and possibly his greed) before his clients’ best interests and eventually slides into insolvency and near insanity.

The Woburn tale also provides sobering reflections about the sorts of games that can be played within the adversary system: how steadfast liars can win, how much of the truth can be concealed during the “discovery” process, and how a steady application of corporate legal and financial resources can quash even the most aggressive plaintiffs’ lawyers with visions of countless millions dancing in their heads.

One of the most well written non fiction books that I’ve ever read. It reads more like a top notch thriller or an espionage novel. Civil Action truly adds a depth of suspicion about corporate activities and the fouling of our most basic needs—clean water, clean air, toxic waste disposal. Terrifying but enlightening. What are these companies doing when we’re not looking? And I’m not even going to go into the mess of the legal system that protects those with the biggest pocketbooks.

This book is about a toxic torts case taking place in Woburn, MA (near Boston) in the 1980's, led by a relatively young but hardworking, tireless and relentless lawyer (and his partners/associates at his law firm) on behalf of 8 families, who either lost their children to leukemia or whose children had leukemia. The basis of the lawsuit was the discovery of a leukemia cluster that developed in a small area of Woburn, which the families only discovered years after their children have been afflicted with the disease. The lawsuit took many years, many lawyers, many twists and turns and a lot of money. As the rest would be a spoiler, I'll stop here.

The author spent many years essentially living at the law firm that commenced the lawsuit against the companies that allegedly polluted the river with chemicals and caused leukemia in children of the families. He also spent much time speaking to the opposing attorneys (those defending their corporate clients), the judge on the case, witnesses, jurors and others. His research included immersing himself in the academic legal, medical and scientific literature from the leading authorities in the respective fields.

The prose is essentially conversational and quick paced. Legal, medical and scientific issues are explained superbly, with precision and concision (as an attorney with a background in biology, I found his explanations accurate). The book truly reads like a fiction suspense thriller. Once I got immersed into it after about 15 pages, I couldn't put it down. I read it mostly on the train, during my lunch breaks at work, before bedtime and anywhere else I found even some 10-15 mins. I finished this 500 page book in exactly 2 weeks.

The focus of the book is the legal case and the complex legal, medical and scientific issues involved in it. The author keeps this focus fairly tight and narrow, with little to say about the legal and medical system as a whole, or about any relevant history. This has its advantages and drawbacks. It makes the book easier to follow and understand and allows the reader to develop a sort of a tunnel vision with respect to the storyline and the narrative. However, it arguably makes the book less interesting in terms of thinking about the issues more broadly and systemically. I would have preferred a broader and deeper focus, but its narrow focus doesn't take anything away from the author's fluid writing style, his immense research and a way of keeping the reader in suspense and wanting to read more.

However, even despite the book's narrow focus, it illustrates well the many problems that exist in our legal system, from rules of evidence to appeals, and compounded by the uncertain and complex scientific and medical issues. If one is genuinely interested in any of these issues, this book would be a good starting point.

All in all, this book would be very appealing to lawyers, especially young or aspiring ones, but also to any professional and educated citizens. Highly recommended!

I read this book early in my legal career, probably 15 or more years ago. It's painful to read, at times; but it offers the truest view of litigation in an area where the expert costs become astronomical, and that's just to get to trial (past motions to throw the case out).

As a consequence, in areas requiring high-cost experts who must do lots of work like cases involving environmental contamination resulting in sickness (like a cancer cluster) and in medical malpractice death cases, only a few law firms handle these cases. Small law firms cannot afford to front the expenses and then possibly be left holding the bag if the case goes south. It works as a natural filter in many respects though. If these few dozen law firms all take a pass, it's likely the case would be thrown out for one reason or another or the case is just not worth all the expenses in terms of a potential recovery.

There are times though that a small law firm with a big ego, like the one in this book, decides to take on Goliath. Of those, the results are often tragic. One in a million might be able to go all the way.

Unlike most litigation however, Mr. Harr's depiction of a lawsuit was fascinating and suspenseful.

Highly recommended.

This was required reading in my first year of law school, for Civil Procedure class. One of the best, true-life, non-fiction books I ever read (right up there with "I Chose Freedom" by Victor Kravchenko). It's all the more amazing for being a true-life account, of a case taken up by a tort attorney and which case can only be described as "the lawsuit from hell," for the way it sucked him in, enveloped his life, damaged his career and health. I never saw the movie, but I don't see how anything could top this book.
The book grabs hold of you and won't let go---just like the case did for the protagonist/attorney, and caused him to obsess over finding justice for his class-action clients.

***This review may contain spoilers***

Ironically, Jan began his career as an idealistic, civic-minded law student who worked briefly as an ACLU lawyer. However, in a Dickensian, Great Expectations sort of way, he abandoned a pure moral lawyering philosophy quickly when he uncovered a lucrative flair for winnable tort cases. But even in those early heady days, Jan was profligate, rash, tenacious, ambitious, and industrious- traits that might advance a lawyer in the short term but unravel him in the long-term. When, after months of hesitation, Jan decided to plunge into the augean Woburn case, he probably convinced himself that he found a rare opportunity to encompass fame, fortune, and doing good all at once. However, Jan failed to integrate those moral and material concepts and consequently made numerous, cumulatively fatal legal blunders and violations.

He decided to take the Woburn case primarily because the town reverend could obtain law firm funding; for Jan, client satisfaction was incidental. He failed to fulfill fiduciary demands by infrequently communicating with the Woburn families, especially about settlement offers. Jan violated trial publicity rules by making public, incendiary comments on the Woburn case. Jan confronted an accusation that the Woburn case was groundless because it lacked a strong "contaminated well-leukemia" evidentiary link. He also confronted a related barratry charge for unduly soliciting clients to join the Woburn case. Although Judge Skinner exonerated Jan from both charges (plus a later motion for summary judgment), the novel implies that the Woburn case's sheer circumstantial evidence magnitude, more than Jan's devotion to his clients, really saved him. During the Woburn case's discovery phase, Jan incurred Judge Skinner's wrath with his continually profane and unprofessional behavior towards witnesses.

Jan's competence falters a bit when, in a self-delusional effort to present a more humanitarian side, he adopts the "Woburn family human drama" prosecutorial approach only to have Judge Skinner thwart him by structuring the Woburn case as a geological/medical technical case instead. Fortunately, again the Woburn case's huge preponderance of the evidence rescued him and eventually secured Jan's clients an $8 million settlement, with each Woburn family netting $450,000. But at best the settlement was a Pyrrhic victory. If Jan had truly divined his clients' true objective (apparently securing W.R. Grace's public apology for the well poisoning), and analyzed whether he could have viably and frugally secured that objective and tort damages, and perhaps referred them to a public-interest attorney if he could not, he could have achieved a "good man/good lawyer" balance without his ensuing ruin. "Rich, famous, and doing good - now, that's very difficult".

Great writing
.Especially meaningful to those residents of ourCommonwealth.

The lack of perception and guardianship of such a vital resource is a travesty of the highest order

Tragicslly, the depth and breath of harm has yet been duplicated in Detroit and elsewhere.
While living under a 'leader' who is eroding every positive measure of legal recourse for those industries,utilities
snd businesses who spew poisons with impunity, we must all become more vigilant in safeguarding all elements with hazardous probabilities, lobby by expressing serious concerns to designated entities. and vote for those who exemplify protection as a core value.

After watching the movie a couple of times, I was glued to the story and was so thankful that somebody donated a book to the thrift shop so I can read it. It's amazingly detailed, researched, and thoroughly a fascinating read. I am almost done.

The movie had done justice to this incredible story of greed, indifference, and violations against a community scarred forever. The case was not just about the loss of children and even adults to acute leukemia but the book details the story further about the permanent effects of the chemical poisoning that affected the wells in the small community. Woburn had no idea of the damage until it was too late. There are many victims and villains in this case.

I admire Jan Schlictmann who went broke trying this case. He used and hired every possible expert, tests, and experiments in studying the land, soil, water, the victims and their families that costs millions of dollars. I admired the lawyers who despite the case's heavy costs kept going when the money was running low or out. I was surprised that some of the victims like Anne Anderson who lost her beloved son, Jimmy, didn't give Jan much credit.

He was going after the companies at a heavy cost of financial burden. His partners wanted a settlement to end this but Jan kept going like the energizger bunny. It wasn't about money and I think Anne should have realized that eventually. I can't imagine losing a child and the book clearly explains the details of how the families struggled, fought, and searched for answers. I admire the families' quest for the truth.

I never thought Jan treated the families with a patronizing habit. He kept them informed everyday with daily transcripts copied and sent by courier to the involved families at another expensive cost.

He kept pushing for an admittance of guilt. Something she wanted like the other families, nobody could have imagined the expense and costs of proving the case in court to a jury. I would love somebody like Jan Schlictmann who pushed costs and expense aside to find out the truth in this investigation.

The families weren't looking for money. They were looking for somebody to admit their guilt in the loss of their children's lives and hoped that action would include cleaning up the contaminated wells that impacted so many of the residents' lives.

The book is excellent in detailing how the contamination started with a weird smell, taste in the water, and expands. This book is a keeper on my shelf. This book is truly awe-inspiring in finding justice.

This is the best book written about a lawsuit and is a terrific teaching tool. The author had unparalleled access to the lawyers, mostly the plaintiffs' lawyer who, somewhat questionably from an ethics standpoint, allowed a journalist to witness client meetings and strategy sessions. While some of the reviewers criticize Harr for pro-plaintiff bias because of this, Harr simply played the hand he was dealt. The defense lawyers were not about to grant that level of access. In addition, Harr does, after the trial, become close to the lead defense lawyer, the curmudgeonly Facher. This allows him to relate a useful defense perspective.

The book takes the reader from the environmental contamination of the 1950s - 1970s, through pre-litigation investigation in the early 1980s, through extensive pretrial proceedings, and then all the way throught the 1986 jury trial. Thereafter, Harr tells the post-trial story, including settlement, appeal, and government initiated proceedings that ultimately resolve the environmental clean-up issue. In short, one can experience nearly every aspect of a civil action in a highly readable narrative.

Harr is a sensitive observer who can key on strengths of the civil justice system that includes the ability to bring the powerful to account before a jury of ordinary citizens (the apotheosis of democracy, as the plaintiffs' lawyers' consulting Harvard professor says -- the law is America's "civil religion"). And he is terrific at highlighting the essential weaknesses and failings of the system. This, Harr captures in two unforgettable quotes. The first is from Schlictmann, the plaintiff's lawyer, who rues how hard it is "to do good and do well" at the same time. That, in a nutshell, captures the skewing effect that the profit motive and money have on the civil litigation process. And then there is this priceless quote from Facher, the defense lawyer: "The truth? The truth is at the bottom of a bottomless pit." The liberal discovery rules and the right of cross examination are supposed to be tools uniquely well-suited for ferreting out the truth. But the ruinous expense and confusion of the process; the foibles of the attorneys, judges, and witnesses; and the profit motive of the attorneys all combine to wreak havoc and to leave one wondering if the truth really does emerge from this process.

In the end, I take a more optimistic point of view than a number of the other reviewers. The families get compensated for the toxic tort caused by the environmenal contamination (at a minimum the families suffered from solvent poisoning that caused provable damage even if it is a stretch to prove that leukemia was caused by TCE to a reasonable medical certainty); the government finally gets off its butt, helped by the work done by Schlictimann, and forces the defendants to clean up the mess; and other companies get the message from this case and from the CERCLA legislation passed in 1980 that environmental clean up and better environmental policies are now a cost of doing business. So the system works to a large degree, though it does a poor job, or no job at all, in alleviating the pain and alienation experienced by the harmed families and community.

Perhaps the best quality of the book is its compelling portrayal of Schlictmann and Facher -- both of whom are attractive and admirable in some ways while at the same time being quite flawed and tragic. The book is about human nature as much as it is about the civil justice system, and is the kind of nonfiction novel that would have made Truman Capote and Norman Mailer proud.

This is a truly great book.

I purchased the book on the store, did not know that i was getting someones dirty copy!! the book is dirty, they left airline ticket stubs in it and some pages have what appears to be food stains! BUY books new!! unless you know the people who had them first.

I am way behind the times in reviewing this book, as many of you probably read it when it was a bestseller. I bought it then and let it sit in my bookcase. Wish I had read it sooner!
In "A Civil Action", the parents of several leukemia victims accused two major corporations of polluting wells in their Woburn, Mass. neighborhood with industrial chemical waste. Their lawyer then tries to prove that these companies are responsible for the cancer cluster that occurred.
This book reads like fiction and I often had to remind myself that it wasn't!
The author, Jonathan Harr, was given full access to the case and to the lives of lead attorney Jan Schlichtmann and his staff. This insider's look at the case allows the reader to witness the maneuvering involved in a suit of this magnitude. We also see how the legal details and infighting can occlude the quest for justice, and how a seemingly biased judge can make a fair trial almost impossible. The judge in this case set questions for the jurors to answer in order to determine liability - questions that were essentially impossible to answer, especially by a jury that was confused with all of the highly technical testimony.
One ruling by the judge stated that the Plaintiffs could not present any evidence about the physical effects of the contaminated water UNTIL they proved that the companies had contaminated the water. Thus, the victims' stories and medical case histories could not be presented to show what the polluted water had done to them.
I found that the tactics employed by the defense attorney to be a legal smoke screen that hid the true facts from the jury. The reader must question a judicial system that allows such rhetoric to prevail. Harr makes it clear how convoluted legalese can determine a jury's interpretation of evidence.
Jan Schlictmann was an unlikely hero: young, flamboyant, Porsche-driving, with a gambler's instinct - hoping to win millions from the two corporations he was suing. Instead, he ended up going bankrupt and almost losing his sanity and his career. His expenses alone, to prepare this case, were $2.6 million. He admitted that he was motivated as much by greed as by a quest for justice; that he got into a black hole and could not get out.
A lawsuit is probably the worst way to prove liability in such a case where scientific evidence is complex and where cause-and-effect is not clear. Jan Schlichtmann's latest environmental case is in Tom's River, New Jersey. It is interesting to note that he is taking an out-ot-court approach known as "alternate dispute resolution", rather than acting as an "attack dog"-his words.

Great book about a civil litigator taking on a big corporation. My favorite part is when the partner of a large firm analogizes lawsuits to a game of boxing: if a solo attorney can survive small battles, and gets back up, then he'll become stronger over time. Thus it's best to take out an opponent with one major blow.

Jonathan Harr's "A Civil Action" had every member of my family riveted on a cruise several years ago--the three lawyers were completely absorbed by the book, as were all the non-lawyers in the group. Harr's great achievement here is making an legal case into a readable, understandable-by-laypeople thriller that transcends the Grisham-like limitations of the word. It has elements of Greek tragedy--the loss of innocence (and innocents), the flawed hero, the presence of fate in everyday life. This is an utterly compelling story, all the more so for being true.
Jan Schlichtmann, the main character, is a flamboyant Boston-area lawyer who has hit on the neat idea of subsidizing his nascent law firm by having the firm accept just a single case at a time. His feeling is that he and the other lawyers will work themselves to the bone on each case, concentrating on every possible angle they can think of, in order to win big damage awards which will subsequently a) keep the bill collectors at bay and b) enhance the firm's reputation as legal bulldogs out to win at nearly any cost. Schlichtmann's strategy works well for awhile, but when he takes on the chemical firm of W. R. Grace, he has not counted on the tenacity of their legal counsel nor the whims of the presiding judge. The result is an absorbing, un-put-downable story of clashing egos, simple town residents who mostly just want an explanation for the inexplicable rash of childhood leukemia that's swept through their town, and ever-rising legal, personal, and professional stakes. Schlichtmann becomes obsessed with the case:
"Nowadays Schlichtmann saw daylight only from his office window or while walking to and from a deposition. His hair was turning gray at an alarming rate. Kathy Boyer attributed this to stress and overwork, although it was probably more a matter of heredity. But he had lost weight and grown pale. His taulored suits hung from his gaunt frame and no longer looked tailored. His hypochondria seemed to blossom under the fluorescent lights of the conference rooms. Sometimes he'd worry about his heart, other times he'd worry about cancer. A prolonged headache started him thinking about brain tumors. He felt as if he were suffocating under the weight of the case . . . 'It's like one of those kiddy cars,' he said to [a friend.] 'They give you a steering wheel but it's not connected to anything. You think you're in charge, but you're not.' "
Unfortunately, in the book as in real life, the families who brought the suit against W. R. Grace fade somewhat into the background as Schlichtmann's stake in the case grows. Harr may not have known when he started out that Schlichtmann's outsized personality would overtake the book, but it does--and he's such an interesting and flawed character that that's not necessarily a negative thing. Highly recommended for anyone who's interested in environmental case law or just loves a good legal read that's sobering in its many lessons.

I read this because it was recommended by my civil procedure professor as an accurate and compelling demonstration of the role of procedure in civil litigation. While that may not sound like a blast, this account is more compelling than most fictional court dramas. It's easy to forget while reading "A Civil Action" that it's a true story seen from the perspective of a professional writer hanging around and observing the lawyers involved. What he observes is a cocky underdog lawyer, Jan Schlictmann, who starts his own firm and goes up against two of the most prestigious firms in Boston on behalf of a group of Woburn leukemia victims. Their claim is that the leukemia was caused by pollution in Woburn's water supply by two plants that happen to have been acquired by two very large, deep-pocketed corporations. The only trouble is, there's little if any proof that the pollution could have caused the leukemia.
The coverage is very balanced - if anything, it could stand trimming to excise some coverage that becomes ponderous. The author gives the sense of sympathizing with Schlictmann and his unfortunate clients, but does not demonize the opposing counsel, or condemn as unfeeling the court's inability to perceive enough evidence to find the defendant corporations liable. If anyone comes off as a scumbag, it is only one obscure side character, the slacker lawyer who originally sloughed off the Woburn clients to Schlictmann and eventually sues the almost bankrupt Schlictmann for a six-digit referral fee.
Along the way, the author gives a very detailed account of a human tragedy and the processes that might be able to stem others like it in the future, if not make a sorry attempt to compensate past wrongs. Even more, it is the story of Jan Schlictmann as hero, who goes from flashy underdog to sacrificing all his financial and emotional resources to advocate on behalf of marginalized victims. In his effort to pursue noble ends regardless of the lack of evidence, he comes off a little like Don Quixote. We are reassured at the end, when some form of justice comes from the E.P.A. using the documentation generated by Schlictmann for the trial. Although a massive effort is undertaken to clean up the pollution, there is little comfort for Schlictmann, who has nothing to show for a huge chunk of his life dedicated to the case except personal bankruptcy and emotional scars. What he has gained out of it though, is some kind of redemption: the case he first accepted with visions of dollar signs ends up catalyzing the environmental cleanup, and producing a transformed Schlictmann who has sacrificed everything out of compassion for the afflicted. This overall thesis, made powerful by slowly gaining strength through ongoing details rather than any explicit indication, makes "A Civil Action" a powerful and compelling story.

Irresponsibilty...Tragedy...Egotism...Persistence...Incompetance...Dishonesty...Recovery. "A Civil Action" will take you on a legal rollar coaster ride, from the unfortunate deaths of innocent victims, to the closing arguments and disappointing verdict. Just when you think that you know what will happen next, a shocking discovery or unexpected event changes everything. I believe that W.R. Grace and Beatrice were ultimately responsible for the chemical dumpings and the resulting water contamination. Schlictmann handled the case fairly well, except perhaps for his closing arguments. If the plaintiffs wanted tenacity, however, they could not have found a better representative than Jan Schlictmann. His persistence and obsession to seek justice for his clients was admirable, but it came with a price. When an individual is willing to take risks this great, like Schlictmann did, he/she cannot expect to win every time or for everything to go smoothly. As for as the defense is concerned, I think they did what all defense attorneys do: get their client a not guilty verdict, even when they know in their heart that the defendant is guilty. There were definitely some ego problems here. Both Facher and Cheeseman seemed annoyed that this younger lawyer, Jan Schlictmann, upstaged and outsmarted them on more than one occasion. Author Johnathon Harr does not give much coverage behind the scenes with the defense, so one cannot say with certainty what they were thinking about. But, given the evidence, it would be hard for anyone to think that these two corporations were not in some way responsible for the contaminations.
If there is one individual deserving of blame in this case, it has to be Judge Skinner. Here we have an egotistical, worthless, stubborn old man, masquerading as an impartial seeker of justice and truth. A man incapable of admitting that he could make a mistake. A man with an attitude: "I am the judge, the infallible god of law. I will decide how I want this case to be decided". How could Skinner not know that Grace and Beatrice were responsible for these deaths? Why did Skinner pose his unreasonable set of questions to the jurors? Why did he seem partial to the defense? When I was reading this book, I started to get resentful at the fact that Schlictmann was still referring to Skinner in a respectful way by saying "Your Honor". There is nothing honorable about a washed- up, lying, egomaniac who pretends to be a judge!
Schlictmann did survive, but barely. I hope that his life is a little less hurried today. I also hope that the families are at peace with themselves and with the tragic losses that they have experienced.
For thos who have an interest in the legal world, "A Civil Action" is an absolute must read. For the rest, it is highly recommended.

Jonathan Harr's twenty-year chronicle of the crests and troughs of "A Civil Action", which pits small town Americans against Big Business industries, ably wears many hats: It depicts the emotional drama of the families of a cluster of leukemia victims. (Try to keep a dry eye over the story of Robbie Robbins' dying declaration to his mother, "We'll meet in the back left corner of heaven.") It serves as a full-blown, but altogether captivating, civics lesson, a step-by-step narrative of a high-profile, high-stakes civil case from the decision to sue to final judgment. Even as a work of non-fiction, it has all the suspense and high drama of a Grisham novel (at least the good ones -- see my review of "The Street Lawyer", August 25, 1998). Some may feel that the book lends to the public fervor that the American Civil Justice system is neither civil nor just. But "A Civil Action" is not a wholesale indictment of the American legal system. Like true great story-telling, it sets forth the facts and lets you be the judge.
Although told primarily from the perspective of the Plaintiffs' lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann, Mr. Harr does not attempt to paint Mr. Schlichtmann as an "Atticus Finch-like" ubermensch, fighting for all that is just and good. Rather, he appears to be motivated less by the tragic circumstances of his clients than by a titanic ego and the quest for the ultimate contingency fee. He depicted as extravagent and superficial. But at the same time, he goes for broke (quite literally) for his clients. The book taps into the raw frustration a trial attorney must experience in endeavoring to find positive proof for what on its face appears to be an elementary proposition -- that an anomolous number of people in a small Massachusetts town contracted leukemia due to the enviromental hazards created by industries upstream.
I cannot recommend this book enough, as both a lawyer and a lover of literature.

Steven Sondheim wrote a musical play entitled 'Passion'. it is about the obsessive two-edged sword that passion is and its complete hold on us as we descend into its depths and darkness or we ascend with it up to the heavens. So it is with the protagonist in this book, Jan Schlictman, an attorney.

This book is a real page-turner and reads like the most readable of novels. It deals with the legal proceedings on an environmental pollution case. In Woburn, Massachusetts, children are dying of leukemia in an epidemiological cluster. The plaintiff families allege that toxic waste has been dumped by two large chemical plants and has leaked into their wells, poisoning people.

Jan Schlictman, the plaintiff's attorney, enters the case as a high-spending, idealistic attorney who believes that right and truth will prevail. What he finds is that how much money you have, where each lawyer went to school and who uses more stall tactics to obscure justice prevail. His total dedication to the case becomes obsession and he loses everything but his own inegrity and fragile grip on life at the end.

This book is a brilliant analysis of the people involved in the legal system, the process of litigation and the real truth that underlies the facade of our justice system.

A CIVIL ACTION
By Jonathan Harr

This is a fascinating book and a tough call
The author presents us with a heart rendering case of eight children living in a small area of East Woburn, MA who have contracted leukemia and who eventually die of the disease. The alleged cause of the cancer is two wells that supply the drinking water for the area. The stories of the victims and their families make you cry out for justice. Anyone with any feelings, intelligence and conscience would demand that the causes of the problem be uncovered, the perpetrators of the pollution be brought to justice, the problem corrected, the toxins removed and the victims compensated, although what compensation could ever make up for the suffering and the loss of life.
Jan Schlichtmann, an obsessive compulsive, who is young and comparatively green as a lawyer and who champions causes where he feels injustices have occurred, finds himself engaged in the Woburn case. He is respected and revered by his staff, open and generous with the people that he works with and although a profligate spendthrift, has no interest in amassing money. Whatever he earns, he must spend as rapidly and as extravagantly as possible. When he is engaged in a case, it becomes the focal point of his life. He interviews hordes of people, finds and hires experts and even goes into the field to gather physical evidence. Costs be damned, the only thing that counts is to be sure that no scintilla of evidence be left undiscovered.
Schlichtmann has been warned by his colleagues that this case is almost impossible to win. Very few personal injury cases hold up in court and he is about to face a highly skilled defense team with unlimited resources. The defendants are Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace. Jan is a three man firm without financial reserves, representing several blue collar families with almost no financial resources.
In May 1982, Schlichtmann files a complaint just eight days before the statute of limitations runs out. He has almost no evidence at this time. His adversaries are Jerome Fasher of Hale and Dorr, (200 lawyers), representing Beatrice and William Cheeseman of Foley, Hoag and Elliot, another large Boston firm. Both men immediately start maneuvering to have case thrown out by filing motions such as violating Rule 11, which concerns frivolous law suits, charges of barratry, which imply that the lawyer solicited people to file the suit and many other complaints that prolonged the case and forces Schlichtmann spend more money.
The judge is Walter Skinner, a highly respected jurist with a reputation for fairness and one who will not put up with delaying tactics. He gives the lawyers nine months for discovery.
At this juncture, Schlichtmann's main evidence is "The Harvard Health Study" which found that there was a large increase in the health problems of those drinking the water from wells G and H. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, hardly a biased group, called the study flawed. It presented no hard evidence connecting TCE with leukemia. Jan has to start from the very beginning and create his own studies that will link the chemicals found in the wells to the diseases suffered by the East Woburn residents. He hires all kinds of doctors to test his clients and to come up with solid evidence connecting the wells to the sickness, but by the time of the trial, there are no long range, large population studies to support the theories. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence and a layman like myself would be persuaded by the mountains of data that there probably was a link. The cost of these studies is humongous.
In order to have a case, Jan must prove two other things, first, that the plants actually dumped the toxins and second, that the toxins actually reached the wells. Jan questions many people and finds a couple from Grace who admit to pouring waste into open ditches. Riley who ran the Beatrice tannery hangs tough and remembers nothing. Geologists and hydrologists are retained and do very extensive and very expensive studies. The discovery deadline is extended and the costs to Schlichtman continue to rise. He is completely overextended. Fasher and Cheeseman continue delaying tactics hoping that the plaintiffs will run out of funds and have to drop the case. The trial date is finally set for February 86, almost four years after filing the complaint.
Judge Skinner divides the trial into two parts, first the plaintiff must prove that the companies polluted the wells. If the jury finds this is so, then the medical part of the case will take place. Fasher offers to settle the case against Beatrice for 1M. per family. Schlichtman turns him down and keeps his most talented foe in the battle. Fasher crushes Schlichtmann, who is completely out of his element in this kind of a dispute. When the first phase is completed, the judge gives the jury four questions to answer and they are really ambiguous. The jury finds Beatrice Foods not liable. The case continues against Grace.
Schlichtmann, completely out of money and with very little stomach to continue this one sided battle is in reality, forced to settle. He gets $8,000,000. After expenses and fees, each family receives $350,000 and Jan ends up with $30,000. W.R. Grace never has to admit guilt.
When I read this book, my sympathies were entirely with Schlichtmann. Was this a miscarriage of justice? I am not sure. Jan was a babe thrown in with real professionals. When we get down to facts, his case was to be built on sympathy for the young victims. He amassed huge amounts of data and felt that this alone would overwhelm a court and allow him to win. The judge, experienced and sharp, knew what was valid evidence. Schlichtmann irritated Skinner by being abrasive and disrespectful and the judge appeared rather harsh in his rulings, but was he unfair? It appears so on the surface, but I look at other evidence. In 1990, the Court of Appeals turned Schlichtmann down, based on the case he presented. They commended the judge for the way he ran the trial and endorsed sanctions against Schlichtmann for his conduct. Hardly a biased body. Justice Stephen Breyer, head of the Mass. Court of Appeals, turned down a petition for a rehearing of the appeal. Hardly a biased party. Finally, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
Did Jonathan Harr slant the story in favor of the victims? Did he believe that a case that could have been a landmark for the environmentalists should have received better treatment in the courts? Was Jan the wrong person, who because of an enormous ego, was unable to decide "when to hold `em and when to fold `em"? He had several opportunities to settle the case for what I would consider a very large amount of money. Did he refuse to heed the pleas of his colleagues and advisors to consider settlement because he had his head in the clouds and couldn't envision himself
losing the Holy Grail. True, after the case was settled, evidence came out that may have won the case for the Woburn people, but Jan, hindered by a lack of money had to rush to trial in order to survive. Someday, a group with larger resources may mount a case and win it.
One thing that the case does prove is that having unlimited funds and using them to manipulate the system never hurts. Is this justice?

The book A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr was definitely one of the best books that I have ever read. The novel was extremely fast paced and factually oriented which made it all the more powerful. This novel brings to light some of the great injustices that go on, unnoticed, in the world around us. It raises the issue of environmental contamination and the power that large companies have over common people. It raises the questions of how many people have to get sick or die before someone will stand up for what is right. The book delves into the complex world of the justice system and how the real issue can get lost or distorted in the mounds of legal rules and regulations. It exposes a corrupt justice system where the real evidence can not be heard and the judges and lawyers try to confuse the jurors into siding with them. "The judge was, in effect, asking the jurors to create a fiction that would in the end stand for the truth." The novel also encompasses the idea of individual change and shows how one man can turn from a selfish, arrogant jerk into a person truly concerned with the welfare of others. By the end of this book the reader is absolutely infuriated with the whole situation. It really makes the reader think about how and where things started to go wrong and why such things are being allowed to take place. This book really opens eyes as to what is going on in the world and makes people think about if it really is possible for one person to make a difference. The issues raised by this book are ones that I will not soon forget. This book has delighted and infuriated me more than any book I have ever read.

The jacket cover says: "greed and power fight an unending struggle against justice". I suppose that you are supposed to think that the defendants represent greed, and Schlictmann justice?? It seems to me that with no real evidence to support Schlictmann's case, and a verdict against him, the fact that he can eventually wring several million dollars out of the defendants anyway, just to make him go away, is not justice.
I guess many readers of this book just feel that chemicals are bad, cancer is bad, someone should pay. It doesn't matter whether a causal connection can be demonstrated or not. We know that "cancer clusters" of this scale will arise often, just by chance. We know that, unfortunately, wherever you look you will often find polluters. I don't think that that means we should throw causation out the window, and find someone to hold responsible whenever a "cluster" occurs.
The book is certainly worth reading to see how the system really works. I just can't understand why so many readers seem to come away with this moral certainty that the leukemia cases were caused by pollution, despite the almost total lack of evidence for that. Are these the same people that believe that silicone breast implants cause autoimmune diseases, regardless of any facts? Do people really think that emotion is a better way than science to answer such questions?

This book left me with two very strong feelings:
First, I felt quite sickened and discouraged to learn in great detail just how easy it is for big business to skirt responsibility for committing such heinous and reckless acts as W.R. Grace and Beatrice so obviously did. This book is a brilliant illustration of how the system fails us. (Although, I must admit, I'm not 100% convinced that Schlictmann wasn't at least partly to blame. I think the big payoff was his ultimate motivation-and his greed was, finally, his downfall.)
I also felt amazed at how Harr was able to create such excitement around every motion filed, deposition taken and objection sustained or overruled. It was as compelling as any thriller I've ever read. I'm no legal expert, but I can see how this book would be extremely useful to any first-year law student. Harr's research is impeccable; he really brought the most minute legal and technical details to light in a straightforward and reasonably objective manner.
In closing, while W.R. Grace and Beatrice sleazed their way through this debacle without having to admit guilt, the Woburn families affected by this tragedy can feel somewhat vindicated in that anyone who reads A CIVIL ACTION will surely be convinced that Grace and Beatrice are truly at fault.

This is a work of non-fiction that combines meticulous research with lucid prose that stimulates the intellect but does not confound, confuse, or befuddle (the latter effect all too common in books that treat complex subjects).
In an understated style, with quiet integrity, Jonathan Harr writes of a tragic occurence that is the stuff of nightmares: a suburban neighborhood's water supply is contaminated by industrial solvents such that a horrific cluster of childhood leukemia occurs.
This is the story of how young, bright attorney Jonathan Schlichtmann offers to advocate for the families afflicted and before he knows it becomes an impassioned and heroic don Quixote. The facts are carefully and thoughtfully presented in a style that is at the same time suspensful and gripping..

Jonathan Harr has written a classic true story which if you were a person who reads novels would embrace it as a great novel. However, it was not fiction and it really did happen. Jan Schelichmann was the lawyer who made it happen. His relentless attack on W. R. Grace and their army of lawyers are a thing of legend.
What happened in Woburn Massachusetts in the late 1960's and into the 1970's was the contamination of the water supply. Hence the people in that town suffered from the cancers caused by the enterprises such as W. R. Grace and these people wanted justice. In conclusion these companies were indeed guilty. This action did indeed effect the people of Woburn MA..
However the very essence of the story is that Schelichmann expended every dollar and energy to defend the people who were wronged in their sufferings and deaths. These people came to represent the collateral damage of what big business did to a small town. In the end Schelichmann finally won. But at what price. In the end everything that represents a proper ending did happen. However at what cost? This was a well written book that does deserve its Five Stars.

A corporate polluter (against whom I was prosecuting an environmental action on behalf of a governmental agency) told me a year ago that he had read Civil Action, and learned a lot from it. I shudder to think what lessons he gleaned from the book . . . but I am thankful he recommended it to me. Like other truly exceptional nonfiction (e.g., Into Thin Air), Civil Action grabs you on several different levels. The book is yet another reminder that the American legal system can be a painfully inadequate way of either resolving disputes, or determining the truth. (See, e.g., People v. OJ Simpson). The book also works as a sobering morality play, in which a plaintiff's attorney, blinded by hubris, emotion, and the prospect of a multi-million dollar recovery, becomes thoroughly consumed by one case -- to the detriment of the Woburn families on whose behalf the lawsuit was brought. (Many of the lawyer's discussions about the defendant's settlement offers seem to ignore the clients' needs or desires.) Almost lost in the picture is the tale of the families themselves . . . what they have suffered, and what they will continue to suffer in the future.

I am extremely aware of how many people have written reviews of this book. This particular genre isn't in my areas of expertise, because I am a scientist and an educator, but this 'legal thriller' absolutely held my attention to the point that I finished it in two days in spite of being in school. Harr did a magnificent job of writing this incredible story, and it was the first time I had been exposed to the moral questionability of all of the groups involved (except the families who were hurt). Harr was fair and made it clear that that Jan Schlictman was not a very nice person when this case started. Typical of the generation I grew up in, money was the name of the game for him and others. But as the case evolved and he came to know the people who had been so devastated by the greed of the companies who dumped their hazardous waste into the drinking water of this community, Schlictman obviously became a changed man...and as both the book's ending and the ending of the movie indicated, he may not be as wealthy as he once was, but he is a better person and probably (I hope) happier. I keep waiting for Harr or someone else to find a case as riveting as this one was. Please, your audience is waiting with baited breath! Karen Sadler, Science education, University of Pittsburgh

This story of a young, ambitious lawyer's courtroom battle against two large chemical corporations is very well written and seems well researched. However, it makes me wonder how objective the writer was when writing this book. Jonathan Harr creates the strong suggestion that a miscarriage of justice took place, and that in particular Judge Skinner, who presided over the case, was biased against the plaintiffs. I find it hard to believe that, if that were the case, all the appeals would have failed the way they did. Is the entire US legal system corrupt or lazy (as suggested by this book), or was the quality of the evidence gathered for the plaintiffs simply not sufficient to prove that the chemical companies caused the leukemia cluster in Woburn? I would have loved to see Judge Skinner's angle on this case, but I guess interviewing a judge on a case he or she presided would be out of the question. Despite this flaw, "A Civil Action" is one of the very few non-fiction books which really deserve the epithets "page turner" and "unputdownable", and I highly recommend it.

Over ten years ago, I worked with Jan Schlictmann and his colleagues as a legal assistant on this case. I had the great fortune of spending time with the author, Jonathan Harr, as he followed us through what would be a roller coaster ride of victories and defeats, hopes and disappointments.
What can I tell you about this book? It happened, just as it is written. Although Jonathan's book reads as fast and as comfortably as fiction, its contents are encyclopedic.
But most importantly, as you read this book, never forget that the heartache of the families who lost their children and loved ones is very real - and that they are the true heroes of this story; they are the fighters for justice; they are the ones who lost people they loved.
Jan and the whole team of professionals who worked on this case, all of us, were people helping out other people who were suffering. Congratulate the author, thank the attorneys who worked and lost so much, but most of all, when you put this book down, I respectfully suggest that you hug your kids and loved ones and not take anything for granted.

Inside account of lawsuit by eight middle-class families from industrial suburb against corporations owning nearby plants that allegedly contaminated ground water, leading to leukemia and other illnesses. The nonfiction style is spare and prosaic, but the situations are interesting enough to draw comparisons to legal fiction, and the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction quality lends the work poignancy and a realistic level of moral ambiguity.
This reviewer has practiced law in the area of civil litigation for 18 years, and can vouch for the realism of the book's depiction of lawyers and the legal system.
SPOILER ALERT: Schlictman was screwed by some bad judging (notably the bifurcation, and the failure to reopen the case against Beatrice), but his failure to inform his clients of the Beatrice pretrial offer was unpardonable -- the worst solecism of anything described in the story. Schlictman seemed to have a certain contempt for his own clients, e.g. their exclusion during trial, and the structure of the Grace settlement. He also got nine million in total settlement, which is about what the case was probably worth, and has himself at least partly to blame for the cost of the litigation.
Not that I would want anyone looking over my shoulder and criticizing the mistakes I make. But like the book says, it's easier to tear down than it is to build.

A Civil Action 502 pgs.
by Jonathan Harr
Review by SpeekNDaTruuf

What happens when two of the nation's largest companies are brought to court? All hell breaks loose... and it is into the depths of hell that we traverse in Jonathan Harr's nonfictional court drama A Civil Action.

1960s. The age of youth, the age of revolution, and, yes, the age of cover-ups and
conspiracies. In the small town of Woburn, Massachussettes, two companies, W.R. Grace, a chemical plant, and the J. J. Riley Tannery, a division of Beatrice Foods, are polluting the town's water supplies, commonly referred to as Wells G and H. As a result, a leukemia cluster develops, taking with it the lives of several small children and middle-aged adults.

1980s. The age of selfishness, the age of self interests. Jan Schlichtmann, a prosecutor at the top of his game, along with his cohorts, have decided to represent the plaintiffs in the Woburn environmental crisis. But they soon find out how greed, how hopes of fortune and fame, can cause those at the top to fall.

There were several aspects of this novel that I loved. One, for instance, was the number of significant characters. Usually, a book has a hero, and it focuses on that one person throughout the entire novel. A Civil Action, however, does not. Yes, it has a main character, but to me, the other characters' interaction with the main character allows readers the ability to actually like the protagonist. I found myself often rooting for Jan Schlichtmann. And I wasn't just rooting for him because he was the "hero." Although he has the title, we see him slipping into what I like to call "nervous breakdown" mode during this novel, and it's not often that we see a main character as fleshed out as Jan. We see his highs, his lows... we hear about his hopes and dreams, and we watch them as they crumble around him. From what I have gathered, he is a good man, albeit only a character in a novel that I have just read.

Another aspect that I loved about A Civil Action was Harr's inclusion of the average reader into the world of legal procedures. Now, as a fan of TNT's Law & Order, I like to think that I am up-to-date on the matter of criminal procedures. But Harr showed me just how much I had to learn (and subsequently, how much more I need to learn). Readers are rewarded with insight into both the prosecutorial and defense procedures, and even though I was rooting for Schlichtmann, I couldn't help but somewhat admire Facher (one of the defense attorneys for Beatrice Foods). I will not lie, though; I hated Judge Skinner!

Of course there's more, but I might end up giving away half of the novel by detailing everything that I liked in this book. So, that being written, I have decided to reward Harr with FOUR STARS for A Civil Action. But don't let my review speak for the novel. Here's what others thought:

#1 National Bestseller
Winner -- National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
Cleveland Plain Dealer: "The legal thriller of the decade."

Here's something else you may want to check out:
"A Civil Action", the movie, starring John Travolta, is now out on DVD. It came on one of the premium stations tonight, and I watched it for the first time. Although it wasn't as detailed as the book (most movies never are), it was actually worth watching. It was good to put faces to the characters I've read about. I think you should check it out also. It didn't get my 4 stars, but it did receive 3 from the "t.v. people."

Of course, the book is almost always better than the movie(except for maybe the Godfather...) The most fascinating aspect of this novel is its realistic depiction of the legal system. It shows how ideals become subverted within the courtroom, where legal machinations tend to take precedence over altruistic intentions. It requires a novel of this size to make that realization felt; you need to suffer through Schlictmann's journey with him, to the ultimately quixotic ending. The movie was too fast, slick, and short, never fully exploring the ambiguities present in the novel. The film feels as if it always wants to break into a Grishamesque chase scene but never quite builds up the steam. The novel, on the other hand, allows the space to explore the interior worlds of all the players. Is Schlictmann an idealist or an ambulance chaser? Like the real world, the answer is none too clear and defies black-and-white answers.

1) How many individuals worked for Grace and other companies involved in this case who also lived in the community and were exposed themselves to the chemicals? What do these individuals know and did they have a duty to protect their fellow citizens if they know chemicals were being handled irresponsibly?
2) Did any of the childhood victims survive possibly through being enrolled in new medical treatments at the time,such as bone marrow transplants, which have been the subject of much consternation among insurance companies who say these transplants are experimental and unproven? If one or more of the children in this case received a bone marrow transplant and lived, could this signify a proven treatment and pave the way for a cure for AIDS and other diseases? If such a child or children lived, would this information be hidden? And if so, by whom?
3)Is there a link between the intrigue surrounding the beginning of the epidemic and fallout from the Whitey Bulger case, with many of the key players hailing from the region this all took place in?

We ride the roller coaster that attorney Jan Schlictmann is on in pursuit of justice for the families of Woburn Massachsetts who sue a megacorporation because they developed leukimia from unknowingly living in an area contaminated by toxic pollution.

I particularly liked this book because it is the best account of what it is like to be civil trial attorney handling large cases. The book has deservedly one numerous accolades. Not only is the book a page turner, but is gives those thinking of entering law school a look into the often very messy business of being a lawyer. Can a case really last years and years and years? Is the truth really that hard to discover for your client? Do lawyers really have to do go through all of this? A must read for anyone thinking about law school. Even if you have no connection to the law, you will find this book is one of the best you will ever read.

Your children and many in the nearby community are developing Lukemia. You think there might be something or some entity reponsible for this. A young lawyer takes the case, and sacrifices everything to secure compensation or at least an appology from the companies responsible for poisoning those children.
Jan Schlichtmann is the lawyer who spear heads this epic battle between the innocent victims and the corporations responsible for polluting the ground water, which caused this unthinkable tradgedy. The battle rages on for years, the judge doesn't seem quite on the up n' up, Jan pours his heart, his life, and his financial well being in to this case. It's a roller coaster ride the entire way through, and and proof that money and the legal system can get in the way of serving justice.

Others have summarized the plot and given their opinions about corporations and our legal system. I will just say this was more suspenseful than any suspense novel I have ever read. And I have read a lot. Perhaps some of the power comes from the story being all true. Harr embedded himself with the plaintiff team while the case was going on, and also got as close as he could to the other people, the families, the defense, etc. As you get closer to the end, the roller-coaster of emotions becomes more and more excruciating. I never experienced anything like it. Hope is followed by disaster followed by hope again, etc. Will any justice be served? Will these mothers whose children were slowly poisoned to death by men dumping toxins upstream get any compensation at all? Will the perpetrators get any punishment at all?

Although I'm not usually a reader of non-fiction, many of my friends insisted that I read this book. The fact that the movie was coming out prompted me further. I can't tell you how much I loved this book. Even though it's 500 pages, it goes fast. There are times I wanted to punch everyone standing in the way of attorney Jan Schlictmann. You meet some sad people in this book, primarily the leukemia victims of Woburn, Massachusetts but sadder still the members of that "old boy's club of Harvard". Harr's writing of this appalling occurrence is nothing short of masterful. My hat is off not only to the author for this extraordinary undertaking but to the attorneys who made an incredibly true story seem so unbelievable that one could realistically believe it had to be fiction.

A fantastic and (sur)real depiction of environmental lawyering at its best and worst. As an environmental lawyer and author of the antidote to "A Civil Action" -- "The Home Environmental Sourcebook: 50 Environmental Hazards to Avoid When Buying, Selling or Maintaining a Home" (also carried by the store.com), this book hits home -- I couldn't put it down. The unanswered question that remains is "how many other neighborhoods around the country have similar issues . . . and how does one know?" Home buyers, sellers, and those just living in their home who utilize "The Home Environmental Sourcebook" can minimize (if not eliminate) the likelihood that their neighborhood will be the subject of a similar book/movie.

You emerge from reading this book with the mixed feeling that Schlichtman's - the plaintiff's attorney - odyssey to obtain compensation for his victims is driven more by his ego than his quest for justice. I say mixed because in the process of so doing Schlichtman drives himself, and in the process his partners, into bankruptcy. That experience leads the reader to believe that there is a zeal at work that transcends money and greed, the very thing that Schlichtman abhors in the companies he sues, but in the end the blindness of ego transcends all: money, deceit, and greed.
If Mr. Harr set out to represent Schlichtman as a sympathetic crusader fighting for justice, he failed miserably in doing so. Schlichtman comes across as a man driven by blind ambition with disregard for his victims, his partners, and the judicial process. His personal loss notwithstanding, you end up feeling more sympathetic towards the defendants than the victims. Both companies, W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods demonstrated a desire to resolve the matter, clean up the mess, and compensate the victims. But Schlichman's zeal and vindictiveness obstructed that course that by the time he did obtain some compensation, it was a day late and a dollar short. So much so that a number of the victims ended up feeling that they had been "raped" by Schlichtman.
The sad part in this is that Schlichtman started out perhaps with the right motivation but ended up not staying the course, and straying from it, by letting his ambition, rather than his common sense guide him. If there is a moral here it is never trust a lawyer that is not driven by money. I know that it sounds paradoxical, but read Harr's riveting narrative and you will come out feeling the same.