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Sign up todayAmerican Poison
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Learn moreFrom the national bestselling author of The Food Explorer comes the untold story of Alice Hamilton, a trailblazing doctor and public health activist who took on the booming auto industry—and the deadly invention of leaded gasoline, which would poison millions of people across America.
At noon on October 27, 1924, a factory worker was admitted to a hospital in New York City, suffering from hallucinations and convulsions. Before breakfast the next day, he was dead. Alice Hamilton was determined to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
By the time of the accident, Hamilton had pioneered the field of industrial medicine in the United States. She specialized in workplace safety years before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created. She was the first female professor at Harvard. She spent decades inspecting factories and mines. But this time, she was up against a formidable new foe: America’s relentless push for progress, regardless of the cost.
The 1920s were an exciting decade. Industry was booming. Labor was flourishing. Automobiles were changing roads, cities, and nearly all parts of American life. And one day, an ambitious scientist named Thomas Midgley Jr. triumphantly found just the right chemical to ensure that this boom would continue. His discovery—tetraethyl leaded gasoline—set him up for great wealth and the sort of fame that would land his name in history books.
Soon, Hamilton would be on a collision course with Midgley, fighting full force against his invention, which poisoned the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the basic structure of our brains.
American Poison is the gripping story of Hamilton’s unsung battle for a healthy planet—and the ramifications that continue to echo today.
Daniel Stone is a writer on science, history, and the environment, as well as the author of Sinkable and the national bestseller The Food Explorer. He is a professor of environmental science and policy at Johns Hopkins University, a Smithsonian distinguished fellow, a former senior editor for National Geographic, and a former White House correspondent for Newsweek. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and two sons.
Daniel Stone is a writer on science, history, and the environment, as well as the author of Sinkable and the national bestseller The Food Explorer. He is a professor of environmental science and policy at Johns Hopkins University, a Smithsonian distinguished fellow, a former senior editor for National Geographic, and a former White House correspondent for Newsweek. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and two sons.
Reviews
"American Poison is an absolutely first-rate book, in which Daniel Stone displays his impressive research and storytelling prowess to craft a compelling, accessible narrative that I didn't want to end. With haunting parallels to the story of the radium girls, this book exposes sinister corporate machinations, shocking scientific history and a horrifying lack of ethics—but also inspiring activism and individual courage, in particular by one of the radium girls' own champions, the indefatigable Alice Hamilton. I found myself quoting it out loud to anyone who would listen. Fascinating, gripping and essential reading for all."—Kate Moore, New York Times bestselling author of The Radium Girls and The Woman They Could Not Silence
"American Poison brings to brilliant life one of the great public health heroes of the 20th century, the fearless and wonderful Alice Hamilton, who stood like few others for the country's working class. Author Daniel Stone builds his story of Hamilton around her fight to bring recognition to the dangers of leaded gasoline, in the face of bitter industry resistance. The book is thus an essential environmental history. But, equally important, it's a blazing torch of a tribute to people, like Hamilton, who fight unheralded to make the world safer for the rest of us."
—Deborah Blum, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Poisoner’s Handbook and The Poison Squad
"A fascinating look at what happens when scientific innovation and corporations’ bottom lines clash with public health and worker safety. In the tradition of Radium Girls, Stone masterfully conveys the David-and-Goliath-like story of the woman scientist who dared to take on big business for the sake of the health of workers and the public alike. It’s an engrossing, essential examination of the human and environmental cost of industrial innovation and a vital reminder that one person can truly make a difference."
—Olivia Campbell, New York Times bestselling author of Women in White Coats
"American Poison, every bit as page-turning as it is enlightening, proves more relevant than ever as a reminder of the dangers when progress outpaces safety. Science sits at the center of both innovation and protection from it in Stone’s riveting account, whether through human experimentation or slow, fatal poisoning by chemical elements. And it yields an unlikely hero for the early 20th century—a woman scientist working in public health who finally, today, has the last word."
—Molly Caldwell Crosby, national bestselling author of The American Plague
“With keen insight and a flair for storytelling, Daniel Stone has written a brilliant narrative about Alice Hamilton, one of the greatest unsung heroes of the 20th century. American Poison has it all: history, biography, personality, and a dramatic rivalry that keeps the pages turning. Captivating, enlightening, and powerful.”
—Claudia Kalb, New York Times bestselling author of Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder and Spark Expand reviews
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