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The Buffalo Creek Disaster By Gerald M Stern

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The Buffalo Creek Disaster is a book by Gerald M Stern, about how the survivors of one of the worst disasters in coal-mining history brought suit against the coal-mining company. The book … by Gerald M. Stern is about a disaster that happened in 1976 …The book was review by prominent persons search as the former President of the United States who termed it as “A shocking, timely book”. Also, The New York Times Book Review talked of the book as “a fascinating tale of how investigative lawyers work, intermingled with sympathetic portraits of the survivors of the disaster”. This shows the prominence of the author who was Harvard School of Law graduate. The book was released in 2011.
Content
The book is about the story of a mining community that …show more content…
The writer’s intention was to address disasters that are brought due to mining companies. He wanted to bright to light the challenges that victims of man-made disasters face. The book shows how irresponsible corporates are and are always focusing on profitability. The book also indicates how some disasters are preventable. If proper safety measures were put in place in advance, the disaster could have been prevented. In fact, this is why the victims won; the company management ignored calls on maintaining the dam.
The book tries to show the recklessness of mining companies such as the Pittston Coal Company in maintaining a dammed reservoir of coal mining waste leading to a substantial remedy awarded to the victims of the disaster. Therefore, the books show how companies that are threatening the lives of the neighboring community may face huge losses in compensation. The book shows how legal system is sometime fair since Stern’s opponents were financially superior and outnumbered him yet he won the case. It shows how a lawyer, Stern, does a great job. The book came after a disaster in New Orleans due to maintenance negligence prior to …show more content…
The suspense of the book is whether the perpetrators of the disaster, Pittston Coal Company was going to win in their future in case of an appeal.
ACHIEVEMENT
The book is informative. It can make a good introduction to the process of the American Federal Procedure. The book is an indication of how similar tragic events can handled. The challenges will look similar. The victims are too traumatized to fight for their rights but Stern does it for them. The book is more of a legal thriller with a bold, young, heroic attorney taking on a big coal company to fight for the victims of a horrific disaster, the Buffalo Creek Flood.
The story in the book revolves around legal –oriented environment the author, a practicing Attorney tells the story from a lawyer’s point of view. Therefore, the theme of the book is how the judiciary can provide justice to victims of man-made disasters. The book introduces the procedures that can be used to handle an irresponsible corporate whose negligence can lead to a disaster. Both sides utilize legal strategies and procedural choices within their reach to ensure victory. The book also indicates the human aspect of the suffering and gross negligence that led to the

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