Check out this book on Goodreads: The Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58840771-the-donora-death-fog
My latest book I read is about a tragedy that happened in Donora, Pennsylvania in October 1948. I live 30 miles away and have lived in this area for forty years and had never heard of this! As the author Andy Mc Phee wrote and I heard about it on an episode of The Crown on Netflix. That espisode talked about London preparing for dealing with a prolonged fog and Prime Minister Churchill being warned about an event that had happened just a few months before in Donora,Pennsylvania.
I enjoyed reading the history of Donora’s founding and the beginning of the Steel and Zinc industry there. The book talked about the plight of the workers. I learned alot about the basics of steelmaking and zinc production. The author detailed the life in a small town like Donora and the role the immigrants from all over Europe played.
He detailed the lives and experiences of the 21 people killed as a result of the smog. Nearly 5,000 were sickened in the weather inversion.
The prevailing attitude at the time was not to blame the mills or U.S. Steel for the pollution. Nobody want to jeopardize the jobs and the economic impact of the industry
The Truman administration initiated the first laws enacted to deal with air pollution and over the next 50 years the U.S. came to grips this important environmental issue.
It was a very interesting book. I rate it an A. Read this book of you are interested in Western Pennsylvania history, the steel industry and small town life and the role of immigrants in our countiries development.
