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The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the Survivors of One of the Worst Disasters in Coal-Mining History Brought Suit Against the Coal Company- And Won Paperback – May 6, 2008
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The "suspenseful and completely absorbing story" (San Francisco Chronicle) of how survivors of the worst coal-mining disaster in history triumphed over corporate irresponsibility—written by the young lawyer who took on their case and won.
One Saturday morning in February 1972, an impoundment dam owned by the Pittston Coal Company burst, sending a 130 million gallon, 25 foot tidal wave of water, sludge, and debris crashing into southern West Virginia's Buffalo Creek hollow. It was one of the deadliest floods in U.S. history. 125 people were killed instantly, more than 1,000 were injured, and over 4,000 were suddenly homeless. Instead of accepting the small settlements offered by the coal company's insurance offices, a few hundred of the survivors banded together to sue.
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherVintage
- Publication dateMay 6, 2008
- Dimensions5.21 x 0.65 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100307388492
- ISBN-13978-0307388490
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"A straightforward, suspenseful, and completely absorbing tale that will leave you cheering at the end." —San Francisco Chronicle
“Jerry Stern's classic work provides readers with tremendous insight into the causes of the disaster.... It is powerful, troubling, and uplifting.” —From the foreword by President Bill Clinton
“A shocking, timely book.” —The New York Times Book Review
“A fascinating tale of how investigative lawyers work, intermingled with sympathetic portraits of the survivors of the disaster.” —Chicago Tribune
“Fascinating reading.... An inside look at a history-making case.” —The Boston Globe
About the Author
GERALD M. STERN is a Counselmen at Phillips & Cohen LLP, a practice is devoted exclusively to representing whistleblowers in qui tam lawsuits. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School before beginning his legal career in Washington.
Product details
- Publisher : Vintage (May 6, 2008)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0307388492
- ISBN-13 : 978-0307388490
- Item Weight : 8.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.21 x 0.65 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #114,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #25 in Legal History (Books)
- #56 in Disaster Relief (Books)
- #1,066 in U.S. State & Local History
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Buffalo Creek took place a few years before PTSD was coined as a description, but as Stern outlines the effects the disaster had on the survivors, it's clear that PTSD was the major effect of the disaster. It also was the biggest part of the legal battle, as Stern and his team fought to get the court and the mining company to recognize the mental suffering of the survivors. Stern compares it a few times to the effects on the survivors of the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Reading the survivors tell about that day, scene by scene, frame by frame, is painful. The imagery is vivid, and knowing they relive it every time they hear rain or try to go to sleep or do any number of other things most of us take for granted is mind-boggling.
The first time Stern shows a survivor telling his story, it is a man whose young son was swept from his arms during the flood as they were carried away from the rest of their family. Stern tells how at the time he was hearing this, his son was about the same age, and he tried to imagine what it would be like seeing that happen with his own child. That's a tricky needle to thread in telling a story -- to relate something to your own life in a way that makes a connection without supplanting the original person's story. Stern does it with grace, and if I hadn't already been hooked by the facts of the case, that section would have compelled me to finish the story.
The book is first-person, so it is impossible to separate story from storyteller. Stern comes across as somebody trying to do the right thing in the face of impossible odds. He fully admits that the legal team caught some breaks they could not have expected on, twists that make the story more compelling. Perhaps the moment that seemed most real to me -- beyond the line that first hooked me in the introduction -- was when the case is moving quickly toward trial. Stern is working on the trial brief, which he describes almost as writing a script for the trial. The legal teams on both sides also are discussing a settlement. Stern has a moment where he wishes the case could go to trial. Part of that is to tell the survivors' story, to make it impossible for another company to do what Pittston did in Buffalo Creek. But Stern also admits to wanting to be the Clarence Darrow of the story, to have a chance at the recognition that would come from trying the case. He's embarrassed by it, and knows even as he's writing that it's ego talking -- but we tend to do that in those situations. I know a lot of investigative journalists through IRE and NICAR. We're all driven by the story, the chance to uncover wrongdoing and shine a spotlight on problems. That doesn't mean we don't also occasionally think "Pulitzer. IRE Award. Etc." when working on a hot story. That moment, more than any other in the story, humanized Stern, at least for me.
The other part of the story that worked is how Stern details legal issues and wrangling over jurisdiction and other obscure topics in such as way as to be both understandable and engrossing. Courts coverage can be full of jargon, not to mention filled with so many details as to bore anybody. (If I never see the phrase "Alford plea" in a story in the editing queue again, it will be too soon.) Stern avoids both pitfalls, keeping the complexity of the legal issues surrounding the story engaging and understandable. You don't have to have covered courts or be a legal scholar to understand the legal questions at issue in this story, and that is a huge success of the book, especially since it's written by a lawyer.
Stern had the materials for a powerful story just in the facts of the case, but his voice throughout the book is what pulls it together. He is both conversational and educational, while knowing how to structure the telling of the tale to pull the reader along to the ending.
Absolutely riveting story and very well written. You do NOT have to be an attorney to appreciate the story line as he explains each step of the legal process. He gives you insight to a law firm and humanizes the job of an attorney, which I think some people so easily forget. We're not all corporate greedy blowhards and I appreciate his ability to portray what a true attorney feels and how getting "emotionally involved" in a case is not always the worst thing you can do.
And you will learn what survivor's guilt is and you begin to think you have it yourself when you read through some of the personal stories which are incredibly emotional and moving.
I definitely will recommend this book to everyone and I am so glad Mr. Stern decided to share this story.









