A wild, true story about a neighborhood contaminated near Niagara Falls and all the resulting health problems, especially among children. In the late 70s, people started to notice that more and more children were getting sick in a town near Niagara Falls. It turns out that decades before, there had been a canal where chemical waste was dumped. Now this waste was contaminating the air, the soil, the water, etc. And the population most affected were the children. After some near-deaths and some actual fatalities, the people of this city, especially some mothers whose children had been affected, start fighting the government and the big corporation responsible to fix the problem.

This was a fascinating story! I had never heard of this environmental catastrophe before, and it is so tragic. The author's writing style though is great, and this story was very captivating.

Historical fiction meets YA heist novel: what a great read! This would be perfect for fans of Six of Crows, The Lincoln Highway, or Bridge of Clay. I think this novel is a great book for anyone who is looking to get back into reading after a period of not reading.

Very informative yet accessible, especially for those who was only just introduced to the history and facts of it! It doesn't really read like a nonfiction, and the writing is very accessible which is definitely a plus for readers who are starting to read in the genre. Love how well researched this book is!

Superbly researched and fascinatingly written, this exposé of the Love Canal case. O'Brien details the sordid history of the area kicked off with a conman with lofty goals and enticing promises of a utopia that would bring wealth and prosperity. The series of unfortunate events led up to an ecological disaster and a perfect case of industrial negligence and profiteering whilst ignoring future concerns. A great read for anyone interested in grassroots activism; as the local housewives take it upon themselves to raise this issue higher and refuse to let their children attend school in a structure built on a dangerous chemical waste dump. Personal accounts are interwoven in maddening government red tape, heroic journalism, dangerous industry denial, parental petitioning, and scintillating science all set against the backdrop of pivotal moments in history. I plan to incorporate the lessons learned from this case and discussed in this book with my students. I wish there were a student version of this text available, but it should be appropriate reading level for grades 8 and above.

A well written, comprehensive book on Love Canal, the heartbreaking stories of those who lived through it, and the impact they had on developing legislation in the United States to prevent future environmental disasters. O’Brien takes a complicated history and makes it easy to understand for the masses. A must read.

This book is intensely researched, while written in a way that still engages & entertains. I had no idea this story of housewives vs. a chemical company (and, let’s be real, the government) existed in Niagara Falls, NY history, but growing up in Michigan, I’m no stranger to environmental crisis and how quickly & shamelessly families can be failed.
I’ll admit to getting all the moving parts/people confused at times while reading. Paradise Falls is excellently laid out for reading, but if I took a break, I’d lose track of all the key players in this heartbreaking and far-too-long ignored tragedy.
My heart ached for Luella Kenny and forged with pride for Lois Gibbs. Women like Beverly Paigen and Bonnie Casper shouldn’t have had to put their careers on the line to do the right thing for relative strangers in need, but I’m forever impressed with their efforts. No one should have to fight so hard for the safety of a neighborhood and it’s children, which makes this story is so important.
O’Brien is an excellent writer and I highly recommend this book to any environmental buffs, anyone interested in (specifically 20th century) US history & politics, and any fierce momma’s out there.

Paradise Falls is an in-depth, narrative style exploration of the Love Canal environmental disaster and the main players who fought for and against justice.

1️⃣ This is one of the more engrossing nonfiction books I’ve read in a while. I didn’t want to put it down.

2️⃣ O’Brien does a great job of showing how ordinary this neighborhood is. The people affected by this tragedy were living their lives, focused on the day-to-day activities, until they were forced to become activists for their own survival.

3️⃣ I drew a lot of parallels to my experiences in the Flint water crisis. It’s so frustrating how achieving environmental justice is still a painful and slow fight more than 40 years after the horrifying events in this book.

4️⃣ I appreciate that O’Brien goes beyond the major players of this man-made catastrophe to include information about the renters and others who weren’t always making the headlines.

5️⃣ Armand Hammer. Both today’s version and his good old grandpa in the 70s. They’re bad news.

This is an absolutely fantastic book. The next Erin Brockovich - I hope a movie is made as a result of this. O'Brien's writing is so readable that this book is paced like a fiction book. Well researched and relevant to our current environmental catastrophes.