What the Eyes Dont See, Mona HannaAttisha
What the Eyes Dont See, Mona HannaAttisha
1 Rating(s)
List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
Club: $11.25

What the Eyes Don't See
A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City

Author: Mona Hanna-Attisha

Narrator: Mona Hanna-Attisha

Unabridged: 11 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/19/2018

Synopsis

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • The dramatic story of the Flint water crisis, by a relentless physician who stood up to power.

“Stirring . . . [a] blueprint for all those who believe . . . that ‘the world . . . should be full of people raising their voices.’”—The New York Times

“Revealing, with the gripping intrigue of a Grisham thriller.” —O: The Oprah Magazine

Here is the inspiring story of how Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, alongside a team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leaders, discovered that the children of Flint, Michigan, were being exposed to lead in their tap water—and then battled her own government and a brutal backlash to expose that truth to the world. Paced like a scientific thriller, What the Eyes Don’t See reveals how misguided austerity policies, broken democracy, and callous bureaucratic indifference placed an entire city at risk. And at the center of the story is Dr. Mona herself—an immigrant, doctor, scientist, and mother whose family’s activist roots inspired her pursuit of justice.

What the Eyes Don’t See is a riveting account of a shameful disaster that became a tale of hope, the story of a city on the ropes that came together to fight for justice, self-determination, and the right to build a better world for their—and all of our—children.

Praise for What the Eyes Don’t See

“It is one thing to point out a problem. It is another thing altogether to step up and work to fix it. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a true American hero.”—Erin Brockovich 

“A clarion call to live a life of purpose.”—The Washington Post

“Gripping . . . entertaining . . . Her book has power precisely because she takes the events she recounts so personally. . . . Moral outrage present on every page.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Personal and emotional. . . She vividly describes the effects of lead poisoning on her young patients. . . . She is at her best when recounting the detective work she undertook after a tip-off about lead levels from a friend. . . . ‛Flint will not be defined by this crisis,’ vows Ms. Hanna-Attisha.”—The Economist

“Flint is a public health disaster. But it was Dr. Mona, this caring, tough pediatrican turned detective, who cracked the case.”—Rachel Maddow

Reviews

Goodreads review by Steve on May 15, 2018

Brilliant public health story plagued by uneven pacing I have very mixed feelings about this book. When Dr. Hanna-Attisha was actually talking about the water crisis, the book was absolutely brilliant. She readily shares credit with the other people working on the crisis and gives great explanations......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on November 20, 2021

Overall enjoyed this memoir/investigative nonfiction hybrid by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician and hospital researcher who played a leadership role in bringing light to the Flint Water Crisis. I loved reading about her passion for working with kids and for taking action to fight the injustice......more

Goodreads review by Carla on March 22, 2018

A book that should be read by everybody in the state of Michigan, and everybody who cares about public health and education, children, and their families. You may think you know everything about the timeline and what went down during the "Flint Water Crisis" that poisoned tens of thousands of reside......more

Goodreads review by Cathy on July 14, 2018

The story is interesting and important - it's so frustrating to "watch" her fight to get the state to declare an emergency and start getting clean water to the people of Flint! I could have done with less information about her family however. I thought it interrupted the flow of the narrative most o......more

Goodreads review by Becky on July 31, 2018

I’m embarrassed to say that despite all the headlines, I didn’t actually know that much about the Flint water crisis.... until I read this book. Dr. Mona is phenomenal in her explanations of the egregious racial injustices in Flint prior to and during the water crisis: from unjust housing policies to......more

Quotes

“A stirring and personal account . . . For all her doggedness, Hanna-Attisha is a goofy, appealing, very human narrator. . . . Hers is the book I’d recommend to those coming to the issue for the first time; the crisis becomes personalized through the stories of her patients and their parents.”—Parul Sehgal, The New York Times

“The Iraqi American pediatrician who helped expose the Flint water crisis lays bare the bureaucratic bunk and flat-out injustice at the heart of the environmental disgrace—revealing, with the gripping intrigue of a Grisham thriller, ‘the story of a government poisoning its own citizens, and then lying about it.’”—O: The Oprah Magazine

“It’s one thing to point out a problem. It is another thing altogether to step up and work to fix it. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a true American hero.”—Erin Brockovich 

“A clarion call to live a life of purpose.”—The Washington Post

“Gripping . . . entertaining . . . Her book has power precisely because she takes the events she recounts so personally. . . . Moral outrage present on every page.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Personal and emotional. . . She vividly describes the effects of lead poisoning on her young patients. . . . She is at her best when recounting the detective work she undertook after a tip-off about lead levels from a friend. . . . ‛Flint will not be defined by this crisis,’ vows Ms. Hanna-Attisha.”—The Economist

“Flint is a public health disaster. But it was Dr. Mona, this caring, tough pediatrician turned detective, who cracked the case.”—Rachel Maddow 

“Mona Hanna-Attisha’s account of that urban man-made disaster reads both as a detective story and as an exposé of government corruption. . . . Her book’s message is that we each have the power to fix things, to make the world safer by opening one another’s eyes to problems. Her book reinforced my belief that the first step to becoming a citizen activist is seeing the world as it should be, not as it is given to you.”—The Seattle Times

“Essential for all readers who care about children, health, and the environment. This should be required reading for public servants as an incisive cautionary tale, and for pediatricians and youth advocates as a story of heroism in the ranks of people who have the capacity to make a difference.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“She is an unlikely hero—a pediatrician who went up against the forces responsible for poisoning an American city, my hometown of Flint, Michigan. Yet because of her gentle but unrelenting perseverance, she brought the world’s attention to this crime. A story of race, greed, and a crumbling democracy, What the Eyes Don’t See is a brilliantly written book—may it help save every Flint in this country.”—Michael Moore

“[A] powerful firsthand account . . . Hanna-Attisha’s empathy for her patients and the people of Flint comes through, as do her pride in her Iraqi roots and her persistent optimism. . . . An inspiring work.”—Publishers Weekly

“Told with passion and intelligence, What the Eyes Don’t See is an essential text for understanding the full scope of injustice in Flint and the importance of fighting for what’s right.”—Booklist (starred review)

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List