Wastelands

The Battle for the Future of Farm Country

Corban Addison, John Grisham

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Hardback

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English

Random House Inc
27 July 2022

True stories; History

The virtually unknown story of a thrilling courtroom showdown, and the handful of crusading lawyers and neighbors who took on one of Big Ag's largest monopolies.

""Beautifully written, impeccably researched, and told with the air of suspense that few writers can handle, Wastelands is a story I wish I had written."" -From the Foreword by John Grisham

The once idyllic coastal plain of North Carolina is home to a close-knit, rural community that for more than a generation has battled the polluting practices of large-scale farming taking place in its own backyard. After years of frustration and futility, an impassioned cadre of local residents, led by a team of intrepid and dedicated lawyers, filed a lawsuit against one of the world's most powerful companies-and, miraculously, they won.

As vivid and fast-paced as a thriller, Wastelands takes us into the heart of a legal battle over the future of America's farmland and into the lives of the people who found the courage to fight.

There is Elsie Herring, the most outspoken of the neighbors, who has endured racial slurs and the threat of a restraining order to tell the story of the waste raining down on her rooftop from the hog operation next door. There is Don Webb, a larger-than-life hog farmer turned grassroots crusader, and Rick Dove, a riverkeeper and erstwhile military judge who has pioneered the use of aerial photography to document the scale of the pollution. There is Woodell McGowan, a quiet man whose quest to redeem his family's ancestral land encourages him to become a better neighbor, and Dr. Steve Wing, a groundbreaking epidemiologist whose work on the health effects of hog waste exposure translates the neighbors' stories into the argot of science. And there is Tom Butler, an environmental savant and hog industry insider whose whistleblowing testimony electrifies the jury.

Fighting alongside them in the courtroom is Mona Lisa Wallace, who broke the gender barrier in her small southern town and built a storied legal career out of vanquishing corporate giants, and Mike Kaeske, whose trial skills are second to none.

With journalistic rigor and a novelist's instinct for story, Corban Addison's Wastelands captures the inspiring struggle to bring a modern-day monopoly to its knees, to force a once-invincible corporation to change, and to preserve the rights-and restore the heritage-of a long-suffering community.

By: Corban Addison, John Grisham
Imprint: Random House Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 159mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 799g
ISBN: 9780593320822
ISBN 10: 0593320824
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 27 July 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

CORBAN ADDISON is the internationally best-selling author of fournovels, A Walk Across the Sun, The Garden of Burning Sand, TheTears of Dark Water (winner ofthe inaugural Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize), and A Harvest of Thorns, all of whichaddress some of today's most pressing human rights issues. An attorney, activist, and world traveler, he lives with his wife and children in Virginia.

Reviews for Wastelands: The Battle for the Future of Farm Country

In this book, Addison turns a novelist's eye to the thorny complexities of a real legal case. The prose is lyrical, the cast of characters jump to life on the page, and the result is a captivating account of how a small group of citizens bring a huge corporation to justice. -Jonathon Harr, author of the #1 national bestseller A Civil Action Inspiring. . . absorbing. . . in this page-turning expose of corporate malfeasance, . . . [Addison] strikingly underscores why American courts are so often a last resort for those wronged by structural economic injustice. -Kirkus Reviews [starred review] Exceptional. . . heartbreaking. . .Addison reveals how a cadre of dedicated lawyers and long-suffering North Carolina families fought, and won, against Big Pork. . .This high-stakes legal saga is a must-read. -Publishers Weekly [starred review]