- Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 May 2023 22:52
NEW DONORA BOOK - "DONORA DEATH FOG: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town."
In October 1948, a seemingly average fog descended on the tiny mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania. With a population of fewer than fifteen thousand, the town’s main industry was steel and zinc mills—mills that continually emitted pollutants into the air. The six-day smog event left twenty-one people dead and thousands sick. Even after the fog lifted, hundreds more died or were left with lingering health problems.
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Donora Death Fog details how six fateful days in Donora led to the nation’s first clean air act in 1955, and how such catastrophes can lead to successful policy change. Andy McPhee tells the very human story behind this ecological disaster: how wealthy industrialists built the mills to supply an ever-growing America; how the town’s residents—millworkers and their families—willfully ignored the danger of the mills’ emissions; and how the gradual closing of the mills over the years following the tragedy took its toll on the town.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy McPhee contacted the Donora Historical Society in February 2017 about doing research on the 1948 Smog. Andy is a retired registered nurse of twenty-five years and publisher now writing nonfiction books about tragic events in history. Author of nine young adult books, more than 750 health, life, and earth science articles, and publisher of more than sixty healthcare text and reference books. Consultant and Fellow of the National Writing Project. Winner of two Feature Writing awards from the Association of Educational Publishers, now a division of the American Association of Publishers. Lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two dogs.
BOOK REVIEWS
"The story of a tight-knit community that united to face an air pollution disaster, Donora Death Fog is an important contribution to environmental history. Written with insight and compassion, it helps us understand the social networks that can sustain organized responses in the desperate early hours of unforeseen tragedy." —William Kovarik, Radford University
“In an approachable and informative narrative history, Andy McPhee situates the catastrophic environmental disaster in the town of Donora in the context of the various human motivations and actions that conspired to create the perfect storm of this deadly smog event. He has done a remarkable job of creating personal narratives intermixed with historical context in such a way that is compelling, yet informative, for general and expert readers alike.” —Trenton Honda, Northeastern University
TO PURCHASE THE BOOK
The cost of the book is $25 plus $5 S&H if we ship. Please send an email to donorahistoricalsociety@gmail.com or call 724-823-0364 along with your name, address and phone number to order your copy. A portion of the proceeds benefit the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum.
You can also see the book on our website –
https://sites.google.com/site/donorahistoricalsociety/merchandise?pli=1
Copies of the book can also be purchased at the Donora Public Library, Monday-Friday 11:00AM to 6:00PM or at the Early Bird Diner in Donora that is open daily from 7:00AM to 2:00PM.
ADDITIONAL INFO
If you have additional questions about the subjects mentioned above, the historical society, museum, presentations or possibly volunteering, feel free to stop by on Saturdays or by special appointment (with at least a week’s notice), email us at DonoraHistoricalSociety@gmail.com, call us at 724-823-0364 and leave a message, visit us on the web at www.DonoraHistoricalSociety.org, or follow us and Like Us on Facebook at “Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum
