Before Love Canal became synonymous with hazardous waste, it was home to hundreds of families. That's the core of Keith O'Brien's new book "Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe."
"This was a desirable neighborhood" O'Brien says. It was full of middle class families aspiring for their share of the American Dream.
"I wanted to capture that sense of community, that sense of place. And then, let those secrets come to the surface and then let it all fall apart and then bring this fight to the forefront."
O'Brien achieves his goal by weaving together several well-crafted stories. At its the core, the book looks inside the lives of the many families whose lives were shattered by the Love Canal tragedy. O'Brien also brings the historian's eye to the subject by telling stories that bring color to the read. He worked to uncover the tale of the man behind the canal, William T. Love.
Arriving to the region in the 1890's, Love, who O'Brien calls an entrepreneur and "a bit of a grifter," conceives plans for an 11-mile canal bypassing Niagara Falls.
"It would have been a small sort of channel for boats, but mostly it would create hydroelectric power," O'Brien said.
"And there was going to be this grand city, this "Model City," he called it, at the terminus of this canal."
Love, though, ran out of money after digging out a small portion of the canal. Later, it would be acquired by Hooker Chemical . O'Brien says the company dumped 2,100 tons of chemicals and residues into the canal.
"There was something called thionyl chloride," O'Brien offered as one of the examples of the chemical left behind in 55-gallon barrels.
"It was the fundamental element of mustard gas, the poison gas which Hooker created and produced in the 20th century."
It was upon this dump where a neighborhood emerged and a school was built. In the late 70's, the public slowly became aware of the reality of Love Canal. Still, it took the heroic efforts of families and advocates to create change.
"It took a concerted effort from multiple people, many of them ordinary people with no training for such a thing, who turn the tide in this neighborhood, and ultimately allowed people in this neighborhood to escape their own homes," O'Brien said.
"That I think is an incredibly relevant and instructive narrative for the times we're living in today."
