A Civil Action

A Civil Action is a great book--and an even better read. Stories about toxic waste can be emotionally trying. Jonathan Harr did a superlative job: He told a compelling story exceeding well. The book is extremely well written, and it's extraordinarily readable. About once or twice a year I'll look forward to continue reading a book (I always have four books in progress). A Civil Action met that bar. About one every three or four years I'll read a book that I don't want to put down. A Civil Action met that bar as well. While the book is well-researched and very detailed, most of the information was obtained through interviews and documents. There's "a note on sources" section that's very brief. There are any detailed notes, and the bibliographies are very short.

As many of the 'lower rating' reviewers may attest to, this book is certainly not devoid of a seemingly exhausting amount of facts and analysis, yet this is what makes 'A Civil Action' shine. For a thorough, intellectual and interested reader, the book will come alive as it sucks you in to the exact condition that plagued Schlichtmann so harshly in his near-decade long search for justice. The devil is certainly in the details and 'A Civil Action' provides them at earnest, allowing the reader to begin to come to their own conclusions and ideas of the case, pulling them into the trial even deeper. I ended up reading this book in one sitting as I was so captivated and enthralled by the findings and rulings that I quite literally could not put the book now. For anyone looking for a glitzy ready-for-film legal novel, this book is probably not for you. But if you are ready to step into the ring and take a good, long, hard look at an incredibly detailed and thrilling case I highly recommend this book. Test your minds; learn the case in a way that could never be achieved through Internet articles and newspaper clippings and fall in love with 'A Civil Action' for the exhilarating legal epic that it is. In terms of shipping I received the book quickly in 2 days through Prime and couldn't have gotten a better 'Used' copy of the book. The spine wasn't even creased (it is now though) and not even the slightest tear on any of the 502 pages. I am certainly glad I chose to buy it used, as it wouldn't have been in much better condition even if it was 'Brand New'.

I just began reading it about 2 weeks ago. The one thing I don't like about it is the use of the name of our Savior, our Heavenly Father and the 'F' word. The content is interesting and because it is a true story and based on fact, it is even more compelling. It draws attention to the fact that EVERYONE, not just big companies, can do tremendous damage to the earth. Things that all of us MAY do, like throwing a paper wrapper from a carton of french fries or a hamburger, or a used soda can, out the window of our car, when multiplied by all the millions of people in this country, can have an accumulative affect on the environment.

Well, this might be the most bitterly disappointing thing I've read in the past decade. All my rage shall be directed toward Jonathan Harr, who had the audacity to set up an impossible situation, made me care about the real life characters this situations involved, meticulously set up the conditions under which this the real life characters finally decided to pursue the impossible task, bluff me into thinking they had a strong chance of being successful, and forced me to feel so many panging emotions as the characters suffer loss after loss after loss after loss, and leading me to think over and over and over "maybe things will be different this time, maybe justice will finally be served," and time and time again that optimism is revoked, and I'm forced down from my elation into reality. Harr has made me into a fool. A naive, overly optimistic fool. Having just finished this book, within the past few minutes, I think to myself, "how could I have been so stupid to really think, given everything I was subject to witness over the past four hundred pages, that there was even a slight hope for justice?" I really don't know. I mean seriously, Harr basically tells you, multiple times throughout the book, that this story is not going to have a happy, yet every new revelation, every new piece of information that's discovered, I was stupid enough to be dragged into Jan Schlichtmann's elation, to feel what he was feeling in those moments, to think to myself that the world is a just place where justice cannot help but be served when the divide between right and wrong is so painfully obvious, so clearly illustrated, so irrefutable, and then, alas, justice does not come. And the defeat failed to become real for me until the final ten pages of the book, which was when it became clear to me that there just wasn't enough book left for any kind've of miraculous twist of fate to manifest itself within the coming pages, and only then did I allow myself to accept defeat, and not a moment sooner. I'm sorry if I spoiled it for anybody, like myself, who was not aware of how these events ultimately turned out before it was introduced to them through this book, but the heroes lose in this true story. Knowing the ending shouldn't deter you from reading it, though. It is a truly marvelous work of non-fiction writing.

Brilliant book!

My son is considering going to law school. This book was recommended by a lawyer as a good insight into the legal profession.

ha impiegato un pò di tempo ad arrivare, ma è in ottimo stato, bellissimo, beige e nero con caratteri in oro. Sono molto molto contenta, anche perchè è in inglese ed io adoro l'inglese.

Found the story to be very gripping and nicely written.

Super book until about halfway