Desperate - by Kris Maher (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

For two decades, the water in the taps and wells of Mingo County didn't look, smell, or taste right. Could it be the root of the health problems--from kidney stones to cancer--in this Appalachian community? Environmental lawyer Kevin Thompson certainly thought so.

For seven years, he waged an epic legal battle against Massey Energy, West Virginia's most powerful coal company, helmed by CEO Don Blankenship. While Massey's lawyers worked out of a gray glass office tower in Charleston known as "the Death Star," Thompson set up shop in a ramshackle hotel in the fading coal town of Williamson. Working with fellow lawyers and a crew of young activists, Thompson would eventually uncover the ruthless shortcuts that put the community's drinking water at risk.

A respected preacher and his brother, retired coal miners, and women whose families had lived in the area's coal camps for generations, all put their trust in Thompson when they had nowhere else to turn. As he dug deeper into the mystery of the water along a stretch of road where the violence from the legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud still echoes, he was pulled into the darkest corners of Mingo County, risking his finances, his marriage, his career, and even his safety.

Bringing to life a rich cast of characters and the legacy of coal mining in an essential yet often misunderstood part of America, On Desperate Ground is a masterful work of investigative reporting about greed and denial, a revealing portrait of a town besieged by hardship and heartbreak, and an inspiring account of one tenacious environmental lawyer's mission to expose the truth and demand justice.

Review Quotes

"Desperate is an exhilarating chronicle of what it takes to build a better world. Kris Maher's brilliant reporting is the fuel behind this propulsive story of brass-tacks Appalachian justice, closely following a troubling case that forces us to face the hardest questions of public health and power. Its call for long-haul environmental accountability will resonate in every community that has been at the mercy of those who never seem to stop taking."
--Anna Clark, author of The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy

"Kris Maher has written a deft, illuminating and often riveting account of a modern-day David and Goliath legal battle, expertly revealing the devastating consequences of regulatory disregard and corporate greed behind our energy policies. Timely as ever, Desperate gives us reasons to believe in the still small possibility of justice--and the unsung heroes fighting to defend our right to a glass of clean drinking water."
--Jeff Biggers, author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland

About the Author