"By skillfully weaving a strong personal drama with thorough scientific research, Steingraber tells a compelling
story....Well worth reading."
--Washington Post
Random House, Incorporated Web Site, April, 2000
Summary
With this eloquent and impassioned book, biologist and poet Sandra Steingraber shoulders the legacy of Rachel
Carson, producing a work about people and land, cancer and the environment, that is as accessible and invaluable
as Silent Spring--and potentially as historic.
In her early twenties, Steingraber was afflicted with cancer, a disease that has afflicted other members of her
adoptive family. Writing from the twin perspectives of a survivor and a concerned scientist, she traces the high
incidence of cancer and the terrifying concentrations of environmental toxins in her native rural Illinois. She
goes on to show similar correlation in other communities, such as Boston and Long Island, and throughout the United
States, where cancer rates have risen alarmingly since mid-century. At once a deeply moving personal document and
a groundbreaking work of scientific detection, Living Downstream will be a touchstone for generations, reminding
us of the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the integrity of our air, land, and water.