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Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back Hardcover – May 6, 2025

by Miranda S. Spivack (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 9 ratings
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Winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize
A groundbreaking look at how ordinary people are fighting back against their local and state governments to keep their communities safe, by an award-winning journalist

Most Americans are likely to encounter the effects of government malfeasance or neglect close to home—from their governors, mayors, town councils, school boards, police, and prosecutors. In fact, deals shrouded in darkness are regularly made at the state and local levels, often the result of closed-door discussions between governments and industry without any scrutiny whatsoever from the public. Too often, as this groundbreaking new work of investigative reporting reveals, residents are intentionally kept on the outside, struggling to get information about significant issues affecting their communities—from car crashes and dirty drinking water, to failing safety gear—until the backroom deals are done and it’s too late to challenge them.

A work of riveting narrative nonfiction based on years of original reporting, Backroom Deals in Our Backyards tells the story of five “accidental activists”—people from across the United States who started questioning why their local and state governments didn’t protect them from issues facing their communities and why there was a frightening lack of transparency surrounding the way these issues were resolved. The secret deals, lies, and corruption they uncover shake their faith in government but move them to action.

For readers of Chain of Title and Superman’s Not Coming, Spivack’s revealing take on a hidden dimension of American politics will outrage and educate anyone who cares about the forces shaping their own communities.

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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    The New Press
  4. Publication date
    May 6, 2025
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.64 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1620978555
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1620978559
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Backroom Deals in Our Backyards:
“An enraging exposé of a nationwide culture of corruption.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Miranda Spivack not only demonstrates how government secrecy threatens democracy. She shows us how ordinary people can fight to make local government more transparent. This eye–opening and meticulously reported book is both a call to action and a road map for success.”
—Linda Greenhouse, Yale Law School

“In Backroom Deals in our Backyards, Miranda Spivack shows that there’s no real democracy without accountability, no real accountability without government transparency and no real government transparency without a fight. This book celebrates the fighters, American democracy’s life-size heroes like my constituent Richard Boltuck, who demanded nothing more—and nothing less—than public information about River Road in Bethesda so we could protect the safety of young pedestrians in a school zone. Bravo to Miranda Spivack for shining a positive light on the people determined to shine a positive light.”
—Congressman Jamie Raskin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy

“Miranda S. Spivack has written the Unsafe At Any Speed of our time, highlighting the corrosive secrecy of increasingly powerful local governments. Beyond identifying an under–covered problem, to her enormous credit, she offers a deeply reported look at accidental activists who became Davids that beat Goliath. Based on their experiences, she offers a playbook for how citizens can effectively fight back against abuses of power in their own communities. With local reporting in decline, and more power being delegated to states, we’ll depend increasingly on individual watchdogs like those featured here to expose wrongdoing and force change.”
—James Hohmann, The Washington Post

“An urgent exposé, Backroom Deals in Our Backyards not only uncovers the dangers of government secrecy but highlights the unsung heroes fighting it. Miranda’s dogged reporting, combined with her empathetic and powerful prose, make this as easy to read as it is important.”
—Sara Ganim, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist

“When governments and corporations collude, the public suffers—but that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Spivack shares incredible true tales of ordinary people who fought injustice against incredible odds. It’s a book that will inspire and equip readers with the tools they need to ask their own questions—and get them answered.”
—Michael Morisy, founder and chief executive of MuckRock

About the Author

Miranda S. Spivack is a veteran reporter and editor who specializes in stories about government accountability and secrecy. She spent twenty years as an award-winning editor and reporter for the Washington Post. A former Fulbright Scholar and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University and the author of Backroom Deals in Our Backyards (The New Press), she lives in Maryland.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The New Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 6, 2025
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1620978555
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1620978559
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.64 x 8.5 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #250,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 9 ratings

About the author

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Miranda S. Spivack

Miranda S. Spivack

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Miranda S. Spivack is a veteran reporter and editor who specializes in stories about government accountability and secrecy. She spent twenty years as an award-winning editor and reporter for the Washington Post. A former Fulbright Scholar and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, USAToday and the McClatchy newspapers. She is the author of Backroom Deals in Our Backyards (The New Press),

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
9 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars BACKROOM DEALS IN OUR BACKYARDS.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2025
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Excellent book. Everyone needs to read it. I have been bringing this book with me to different events and shared with everyone I know online.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Brittany
    5.0 out of 5 stars Galvanizing stories about David taking on Goliath
    Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2025
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    This book is equal parts infuriating and inspiring: infuriating to see how our tax dollars and public agencies are used to shield private companies behind closed-door deals, and inspiring to witness how persistence and community action by regular people can expose the truth. It’s grimy to read about how public institutions protect private interests, but powerful to see everyday citizens persevere and make real change.
    My favorite story was about the wife of a firefighter - armed with only a high school education and years of relentless determination - who was repeatedly shut out, dismissed, and muzzled as she searched for answers about why her husband and so many of his fellow firefighters were getting cancer. Over time using social media, union networks, and local government outreach she refused to back down to uncover the truth.
    A great, accessible read with practical tips for investigating what’s happening in your own backyard. If you're trying to pry open your local, state, or federal government, this book is for you.
    Helpful
     Report
  • David Ejiogu
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Importance of Transparency
    Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2025
    Format: Kindle
    We have become so used to associating the principle of transparency with freedom of the press. But there is a deeper and more important level of transparency in every healthy society: this is the one that does not just prevent the press from asking questions, but operates under a duty to inform.

    In “Backroom Deals in Our Backyards”, Miranda S. Spivack illuminates a toxic (pun fully intended) threat to both democratic principles and the well-being of communities across America: the increasing tendency towards secrecy on the part of governments and corporations.
    Spivack argues (with convincing cases) that this information blackout is not just a bureaucratic nuisance, but a deliberate strategy used to maintain power and protect interests, often with devastating consequences for ordinary citizens.
    The book is structured around the stories of a handful of people the author calls “accidental activists”. These individuals, with no prior experience in research or community organizing, found themselves facing hidden problems in their own backyards. They confronted “the unfair alliances” between governments and businesses that allowed negligence and collusion by concealing vital information.
    The stories presented are varied, but all highlight the same basic problem: that of deliberate cover up and its real-life implications.
    There is the case of Hoosick Falls, New York, where Michael Hickey, who became an accidental investigator due to his father's death from cancer, uncovered a cover-up by the local government about poisoned drinking water.

    There is also Richard Boltuck's fight in Maryland which revealed state concealment and failure to act on accident data, fearing that the public might challenge or sue private contractors.
    And then there is the investigation by Diane Cotter, which revealed how manufacturers and government agencies, in collaboration with the firefighters' union, allowed known risks to be concealed about toxic chemicals (such as PFAS) in firefighters' protective clothing.

    The book does not stop at highlighting the problems. It offers a guide on how ordinary citizens can fight this bureaucracy of secrecy. These “accidental activists” learned to use tools such as public records access laws, build support networks (often through social media), seek legal help, communicate with journalists, and strategically lobby politicians and bureaucrats.
    Despite difficulties, personal adversity, and powerful opponents, their efforts have been successful in exposing hidden risks and forcing action from governments and corporations.
    The central idea that emerges from the sources is that transparency is not just an abstract idea, but a fundamental element of a functioning democracy that protects the health, safety and freedom of citizens. The book concludes with a strong call for vigilance, stressing that the public holds power, but must actively exercise it, demanding an end to secrecy and fighting for the principles of public notice, observation, participation and consultation.

    Although not directly addressed by the author, I argue that the main takeaway of the book is that the well-known saying ‘democracy dies in darkness’ is not just about the importance of journalists, but about the looming threat to a society of a government which does not have the legal imperative to warn its citizens of the kind of threats highlighted in this book. In a healthy society citizens should not have to expend so much energy and resources in finding out about dangerous things that are either covered up or just not revealed.

    Strongly recommended.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Kevin G
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Engaging Read on an Important - But Underexplored - Topic
    Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2025
    Format: Audible Audiobook
    Full disclosure: I know the author and we've served on the Board of Directors of an open government organization together. But that also means I know the subject matter well and I can say with authority that this is an excellent presentation of a topic that doesn't get enough attention: the use of public-private partnerships to hide information from local communities.

    It's something that's more prevalent than you think - in the 2 weeks between the time I finished the book and I'm writing this review, I've seen 2 different A section articles about this in the Washington Post (so maybe people are waking up to it) and something that affects our public health and safety.

    Miranda Spivack explains this concept not just well but in a way that engages you. These are real people and real communities behind the legal issues and she doesn't let you forget that. I found myself wanting to know what happened next and fully vested in each person's quest for more information.

    The toolkit at the end of the book is also very helpful for those inspired by these stories to do the same in their local communities.
    Helpful
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  • Richard Wexler
    5.0 out of 5 stars A hopeful book reminding us that we all can be changemakers
    Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2025
    Format: Kindle
    At a time when people are discouraged about the state of democracy in the U.S., Spivack reminds us that democracy can still flourish in our communities, and through the work of "average" Americans who see a problem and try to fix it. She documents these "heroes" and also tells her readers how to emulate them. It is also chock full of useful tips about how to find vital information even when government officials fail to cooperate. A very good read!
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  • Katie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling stories about the public's right -- and need -- to know
    Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2025
    Format: Hardcover
    This is a smart and engaging collection of journalistic stories about regular citizens who became "accidental activists" by insisting that their state and local government provide documents required under the law.

    Anyone who champions the public's right to know will cheer along with stories about a woman fighting to learn whether her husband's firefighter gear gave him cancer, a New York resident who revealed toxic drinking water, a Maryland man seeking safety data about a dangerous intersection near the local high school, and more.

    I loved the deep reporting and tight, vivid writing that kept me reading to the end.
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