Toms River (Pulitzer Prize Winner): A Story of Science and Salvation

Toms River is a nonfiction account of a New Jersey coastal town that became the site of a major environmental and public health crisis. For decades, chemical companies used the town as a dumping ground, burying leaky drums in open pits and discharging billions of gallons of acid-laced wastewater into the Toms River. This pollution was scientifically linked to a notable cluster of childhood cancers in the community. Journalist Dan Fagin traces sixty years of industrial pollution and regulatory failures that made Toms River a cautionary example for industrial towns elsewhere. The narrative follows pioneering scientists and physicians who identified pollutants as a cancer cause, alongside residents who fought for justice: a child with tumors from birth, a nurse who documented the alarming cancer rates, and a mother who became an advocate for change. The town's struggle culminated in 2001 with one of the largest legal settlements in toxic dumping cases. The book combines scientific history with accounts of corporate negligence, government oversight failures, and individuals who persisted in exposing the truth.