Part One of Anna Clark and The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy

When the people of Flint, Michigan, turned on their faucets in April 2014, the water pouring out was poisoned with lead and other toxins. Through a series of disastrous decisions, the state government had switched the city’s water supply to a source that corroded Flint’s aging lead pipes. 

Anna Clark is a journalist in Detroit. The Poisoned City was named one of the year’s best books by the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Kirkus Reviews, Audible, Amazon, the New York Public Library, and others. It is the winner of the Hillman Prize in Book Journalism and the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award.It was also named a Michigan Notable book, won a State History Award, and it was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and it was also a finalist for the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. 

Anna’s writing has appeared in Elle, the New York Times, Politico, the Columbia Journalism Review, Next City, and other places. She has been a Fulbright fellow in Nairobi, Kenya, and a Knight-Wallace journalism fellow at the University of Michigan. She received the Excellence in Environmental Journalism award from the Great Lakes Environmental Law Council. You can find out more about the book and Anna’s writing on her website, annaclark.net.