In October 1948, a seemingly average fog descended on the tiny mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania. With a population of fewer than fifteen thousand, the town's main industry was steel and zinc mills — mills that continually emitted pollutants into the air. The six-day smog event left twenty-one people dead and thousands sick. Even after the fog lifted, hundreds more died or were left with lingering health problems.
Andy McPhee's Donora Death Fog paints a riveting portrait of the deadly 1948 smog and presents for the first time a detailed timeline of the six-day tragedy and the people who lived, worked, and died in the riverside mill town. He also documents the subtle racism pervading Donora, a town that prided itself on its diversity. A compelling page-turner, Donora Death Fog shows why the legacy of the smog continues to reside in the heart of the town's sons and daughters and in the air we all breathe today.
