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

The dramatic story of the Flint water crisis, told "with the gripping intrigue of a Grisham thriller" (O: The Oprah Magazine)amp;mdash;an inspiring tale of scientific resistance by a relentless physician who stood up to power.

Flint was already a troubled city in 2014 when the state of Michiganamp;mdash;in the name of austerityamp;mdash;shifted the source of its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Soon after, citizens began complaining about the water that flowed from their tapsamp;mdash;but officials rebuffed them, insisting that the water was fine. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician at the city's public hospital, took state officials at their word and encouraged the parents and children in her care to continue drinking the wateramp;mdash;after all, it was American tap water, blessed with the state's seal of approval.

But a conversation at a cookout with an old friend, leaked documents from a rogue environmental inspector, and the activism of a concerned mother raised red flags about leadamp;mdash;a neurotoxin whose irreversible effects fall most heavily on children. Even as circumstantial evidence mounted and protests grew, Dr. Mona knew that the only thing that could stop the lead poisoning was undeniable proofamp;mdash;and that to get it, she'd have to enter the fight of her life.

What the Eyes Don't See is the inspiring story of how Dr. Monaamp;mdash;accompanied by an idiosyncratic team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leadersamp;mdash;proved that Flint's kids were exposed to lead and then fought her own government and a brutal backlash to expose that truth to the world. Paced like a scientific thriller, this book shows how misguided austerity policies, the withdrawal of democratic government, and callous bureaucratic indifference placed an entire city at risk. And at the center of the story is Dr. Mona herselfamp;mdash;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, beautifully rendered 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 theiramp;mdash;and all of ouramp;mdash;children.