Valley So Low

Praise

“Valley So Low is more than a tale of unrepentant corporate evil and incomprehensible environmental destruction. It’s more, even, than a spellbinding courtroom drama. This brilliant, necessary book is a testament to the power of perseverance and a blueprint for challenging industry’s shrugged-off human costs. Valley So Low is a ballad, yes, but it’s also an anthem. And a triumph.” —Margaret Renkl, author of The Comfort of Crows

“This tense investigative chronicle of what Sullivan, a journalist, calls the ‘single largest industrial disaster in U.S. history in terms of volume’ focusses on the workers who cleaned up afterward. … As Sullivan follows the court case filed by some of the affected men, the book becomes a legal thriller—a story of ‘simple, hardworking’ Davids fighting the Big Energy Goliath who poisoned them.” —The New Yorker

“Sullivan brings a maximalist, punctilious approach…. We don’t just read about the trial’s interminable delays: We feel them.” —Nathaniel Rich, The New York Times Book Review

“Jared is a master storyteller and Valley So Low is definitely worth your time.” —John Hendrickson, staff writer for The Atlantic

“Propulsive and written with flair, Valley So Low is a valuable addition to the pantheon of legal thrillers.” —Bookpage (starred review)

“A heartbreaking yet inspiring legal drama that reminds readers of the strength of ordinary people.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“In Valley So Low, Jared Sullivan recounts in cinematic detail the saga of a coal disaster and the self-described ‘hillbilly lawyers’ who stood up for blue-collar workers in a tiny Tennessee town.” —Garden & Gun

“Jared Sullivan’s Valley So Low is a gripping legal thriller documenting the power and greed behind this appalling and deadly environmental disaster. Not since Jonathan Harr’s A Civil Action has a book so compellingly documented one man’s Herculean efforts to force accountability through the courts.” —Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove

“Jared Sullivan brings to mind a young William Langewiesche in his skill at following human stories through the dense fact-field of long, careful reporting on major events.” —John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead

“An unassuming book that proves it is easier to imagine the death of capitalism than it is to imagine the death of our better angels. This is the book we should be reading, the book we should all be trying to write. Valley So Low is a masterpiece.” —Nico Walker, author of Cherry