My City Was Gone: One American Town's Toxic Secret, Its Angry Band of Locals, and a $700 Million Day in Court

by Dennis Love

Powerful and important, My City Was Gone is the cautionary tale of how a hardworking small town was destroyed by the very forces that created it. Anniston, Alabama, was once a thriving industrial hub, home to a Monsanto chemical plant as well as a federal depot for chemical weapons. Now its notoriety comes from its exceptionally high cancer rateâ some 25 percent above the state normâ and the town's determined citizens who joined together and struck back at the corporation.

As provocative and timely as Erin Brockovich or A Civil Action, My City Was Gone is a magnificently told true story of ordinary citizens in a small Southern town who led a legendary fight against corporate pollution and wrongdoing.

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2006

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not even get past the first chapter. It might have been a good story but the author doesn't know how to end a sentence. He uses too many commas and semicolons to extend the sentences so that they are almost unreadable. I cannot read a book that takes that much brain power on my part to decipher what the author is trying to say.

[Jacqueline K segura-artist · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story, piss-poor writing with excessive filler. Read little less than half after skipping through the bs.

[William Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part memoir, part town history, part legal drama thriller: My City Was Gone was a genre-bending book and a pleasure to read. I picked it up for the environmental law aspect of the book, but found myself enjoying plenty else. (The one exception being the author’s exploration of his own identity and his relationship struggles.)

The book focuses on the central role of pollution and contamination in the history of Anniston, Alabama, a weirdly unique town known for its mix of blue collar blood and high-minded culture. Two of the largest institutions in the town’s 20th century history were the US Army and the chemicals corporation Monsanto. Each brought deadly chemicals to town for their own reasons, but residents were made to pay dearly, often with their lives through cancers and other ailments. The legal struggle for justice led by attorney Donald Stewart and supported by community organizer and activist David Baker felt like the stuff of movies; indeed, the building of the case against Monsanto reminded me of the Netflix legal thriller Making a Murderer.

The work of Stewart, the attorney, inspires me for what I hope to get out of my career after law school. I’ll remember this book as one that galvanized me knowing it’s possible.

A couple minus points on the book I feel obligated to mention: being written in 2007 by a ever so slightly questionable narrator, it starts out very shakily in its descriptions of race in Anniston. There are a few other weird lines throughout the book, but I chock these up largely to sentiments that only now seem antiquated in our much more racially progressive age. Additionally, I have to say that the writing is not particularly great, but the plot itself does so much work in making this a readable book.

Leaving some of these downsides aside, the book is highly readable, full of drama and intrigue, and inspirational for my career to come.

A worthy read for environmental activists and community organizers alike!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tragic story of what Monsanto did to the poor minority section of Anniston, Alabama. For decades they polluted the area with PCB's and the people of West Anniston suffered and died because of it. Yes, there was a huge settlement won but the cost will have always been too high for everyone involved who fought back against Monsanto. Monsanto is truly an example of what most big corporations are and that is sociopathic.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pass by Anniston every time I head to Atlanta or points north, it was neat to learn more about it.

[Diane C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, compellingly written in a journalistic fashion. Another tale of how a city sold it's soul for jobs and lived to regret it.

[Robin Spoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tells an important story of a terrible environmental issue here in our county, with the largest settlement in U.S. history. Well-written, with great historical story-telling.