American Poison - A Deadly Invention and the Woman Who Battled for Environmental Justice

From the national bestselling author of At noon on October 27, 1924, a factory worker was admitted to a hospital in New York City, suffering from hallucinations and convulsions. Before breakfast the next day, he was dead. Alice Hamilton was determined to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. By the time of the accident, Hamilton had pioneered the field of industrial medicine in the United States. She specialized in workplace safety years before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created. She was the first female professor at Harvard. She spent decades inspecting factories and mines. 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 decade. Industry was booming. Labor was flourishing. Automobiles were changing roads, cities, and nearly all parts of American life. And one day, an ambitious scientist named Thomas Midgley Jr. triumphantly found just the right chemical to ensure that this boom would continue. His discovery--tetraethyl leaded gasoline--set him up for great wealth and the sort of fame that would land his name in history books. Soon, Hamilton would be on a collision course with Midgley, fighting full force against his invention, which poisoned the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the basic structure of our brains.

About the author

Daniel Stone is a writer on science, history, and the environment, as well as the author of Sinkable and the national bestseller The Food Explorer. He is a professor of environmental science and policy at Johns Hopkins University, a Smithsonian distinguished fellow, a former senior editor for National Geographic, and a former White House correspondent for Newsweek. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and two sons.

Product details

• Authors: Daniel Stone, Stone Daniel
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 18.02.2025
• EAN: 9780593473627
• ISBN: 978-0-593-47362-7
• No. of pages: 368
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 237 mm x 29 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; USA, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women, Biography: general, 20th Century, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, environmental science, engineering & technology, United States of America, USA, Science / Environmental Science, Gender studies: women, History of the Americas, Gender studies: women and girls, Environmental science, engineering and technology