American Poison: A Deadly Invention and the Woman Who Battled for Environmental Justice
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From the national bestselling author of The Food Explorer, comes the untold story of Alice Hamilton, a trailblazing labor rights and public health activist who took on the booming auto industry—stopping the deadly poison of leaded gasoline and saving millions of lives.
At noon on October 27, 1924, a factory worker was admitted to a hospital in New York, suffering from hallucinations and convulsions. Before breakfast the next day, he was dead. Alice Hamilton was, perhaps, the only person who could prevent tragedy from happening again.
When Alice Hamilton arrived at the lead factory, she stood as a doctor who had pioneered the field of industrial medicine in the United States. Hamilton specialized in workplace safety years before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created. She was the first female faculty member at Harvard. She guided numerous studies on the dangers of lead. She had saved countless lives, changing industrial practices at a time when exposing workers to hazardous chemicals commonly led to strange and frightening deaths. But this time, she was up against a formidable new foe: America’s relentless push for progress, regardless of the cost.
The 1920s were an exciting time. Industry was booming. New inventions seemed to be everywhere, including automobiles. And in a laboratory, hunched over his periodic table, Thomas Midgley triumphantly found just the right chemical to improve the engines of those vehicles, setting himself up for a financial windfall and the sort of fame that would land his name in the history books: Leaded gasoline.
Soon, Hamilton would be on a collision course with Thomas Midgley, fighting with all her might against his invention, which poisoned the air we breathe, the water we drank, and the basic structure of our brains.
American Poison is the gripping story of the shocking lengths some will go to in the name of innovation—and the ramifications that continue to echo today.
When Alice Hamilton arrived at the lead factory, she stood as a doctor who had pioneered the field of industrial medicine in the United States. Hamilton specialized in workplace safety years before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created. She was the first female faculty member at Harvard. She guided numerous studies on the dangers of lead. She had saved countless lives, changing industrial practices at a time when exposing workers to hazardous chemicals commonly led to strange and frightening deaths. But this time, she was up against a formidable new foe: America’s relentless push for progress, regardless of the cost.
The 1920s were an exciting time. Industry was booming. New inventions seemed to be everywhere, including automobiles. And in a laboratory, hunched over his periodic table, Thomas Midgley triumphantly found just the right chemical to improve the engines of those vehicles, setting himself up for a financial windfall and the sort of fame that would land his name in the history books: Leaded gasoline.
Soon, Hamilton would be on a collision course with Thomas Midgley, fighting with all her might against his invention, which poisoned the air we breathe, the water we drank, and the basic structure of our brains.
American Poison is the gripping story of the shocking lengths some will go to in the name of innovation—and the ramifications that continue to echo today.