The book list for my civil pro class shows A Civil Action (by Jonathan Harr) as a required book. I read this when it first came out and I have just started re-reading it. The story (of the contaminated drinking wells in Woburn, MA) hits extremely close to home with me. I was born and raised in that town, and I lived about a mile from those wells (although I do not think my water supply came from them). As kids, we used to fish and play in and around the Aberjona River, occasionally making rafts out of discarded gas tanks and barrels and playing pirate. We were kids and knew no better. In the winter, we played hockey on the nearby frozen ponds.
I knew several of the victim families mentioned in this story, and at one time, I even worked for one of the companies accused of dumping toxic chemicals (they were only a minor player and settled cheap before trial). My childhood best friend’s dad worked for the tannery for many years and died from pancreatic cancer. His family got nothing. In fact, there are many more victims than indicated by the book and/or movie; isn’t that the way it usually goes?
Anyway, I thought it was sort of weird (READ: freaky) that my Civ Pro professor would choose a book about which I have some in-depth knowledge, especially since this case is not local to my LS location.
