The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the survivors of one of the worst disasters in coal-mining history

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A quick rundown of this product’s key features:

The “suspenseful and completely absorbing story” (San Francisco Chronicle) of how survivors of the worst coal-mining disaster in history triumphed over corporate irresponsibility—written by the young lawyer who took on their case and won.

One Saturday morning in February 1972, an impoundment dam owned by the Pittston Coal Company burst, sending a 130 million gallon, 25 foot tidal wave of water, sludge, and debris crashing into southern West Virginia’s Buffalo Creek hollow. It was one of the deadliest floods in U.S. history. 125 people were killed instantly, more than 1,000 were injured, and over 4,000 were suddenly homeless. Instead of accepting the small settlements offered by the coal company’s insurance offices, a few hundred of the survivors banded together to sue. 

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: FoolishAmbassador
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Amazing text. It’s on my law school jurisprudence list …
Review: Amazing text. It’s on my law school jurisprudence list so I thought I’d give it a quick read. I had no expectations going in and I just might buy the hard copy to put in my library. That good. An amazing story of an attorney who didn’t give up on his clients and sought out the best possible resolution for them.Absolutely riveting story and very well written. You do NOT have to be an attorney to appreciate the story line as he explains each step of the legal process. He gives you insight to a law firm and humanizes the job of an attorney, which I think some people so easily forget. We’re not all corporate greedy blowhards and I appreciate his ability to portray what a true attorney feels and how getting “emotionally involved” in a case is not always the worst thing you can do.And you will learn what survivor’s guilt is and you begin to think you have it yourself when you read through some of the personal stories which are incredibly emotional and moving.

Reviewer: Jennie Coughlin
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Compelling story, powerfully told
Review: The book has two main aspects — telling the survivors’ story, which it does in beautiful, painful detail through their own words — and telling how Stern fought a major corporation that flagrantly flouted the law in a state bought and paid for by that industry and won. Its does both well, without making either element feel shortchanged.Buffalo Creek took place a few years before PTSD was coined as a description, but as Stern outlines the effects the disaster had on the survivors, it’s clear that PTSD was the major effect of the disaster. It also was the biggest part of the legal battle, as Stern and his team fought to get the court and the mining company to recognize the mental suffering of the survivors. Stern compares it a few times to the effects on the survivors of the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Reading the survivors tell about that day, scene by scene, frame by frame, is painful. The imagery is vivid, and knowing they relive it every time they hear rain or try to go to sleep or do any number of other things most of us take for granted is mind-boggling.The first time Stern shows a survivor telling his story, it is a man whose young son was swept from his arms during the flood as they were carried away from the rest of their family. Stern tells how at the time he was hearing this, his son was about the same age, and he tried to imagine what it would be like seeing that happen with his own child. That’s a tricky needle to thread in telling a story — to relate something to your own life in a way that makes a connection without supplanting the original person’s story. Stern does it with grace, and if I hadn’t already been hooked by the facts of the case, that section would have compelled me to finish the story.The book is first-person, so it is impossible to separate story from storyteller. Stern comes across as somebody trying to do the right thing in the face of impossible odds. He fully admits that the legal team caught some breaks they could not have expected on, twists that make the story more compelling. Perhaps the moment that seemed most real to me — beyond the line that first hooked me in the introduction — was when the case is moving quickly toward trial. Stern is working on the trial brief, which he describes almost as writing a script for the trial. The legal teams on both sides also are discussing a settlement. Stern has a moment where he wishes the case could go to trial. Part of that is to tell the survivors’ story, to make it impossible for another company to do what Pittston did in Buffalo Creek. But Stern also admits to wanting to be the Clarence Darrow of the story, to have a chance at the recognition that would come from trying the case. He’s embarrassed by it, and knows even as he’s writing that it’s ego talking — but we tend to do that in those situations. I know a lot of investigative journalists through IRE and NICAR. We’re all driven by the story, the chance to uncover wrongdoing and shine a spotlight on problems. That doesn’t mean we don’t also occasionally think “Pulitzer. IRE Award. Etc.” when working on a hot story. That moment, more than any other in the story, humanized Stern, at least for me.The other part of the story that worked is how Stern details legal issues and wrangling over jurisdiction and other obscure topics in such as way as to be both understandable and engrossing. Courts coverage can be full of jargon, not to mention filled with so many details as to bore anybody. (If I never see the phrase “Alford plea” in a story in the editing queue again, it will be too soon.) Stern avoids both pitfalls, keeping the complexity of the legal issues surrounding the story engaging and understandable. You don’t have to have covered courts or be a legal scholar to understand the legal questions at issue in this story, and that is a huge success of the book, especially since it’s written by a lawyer.Stern had the materials for a powerful story just in the facts of the case, but his voice throughout the book is what pulls it together. He is both conversational and educational, while knowing how to structure the telling of the tale to pull the reader along to the ending.

Reviewer: Thoma H. Vidal
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent chronicle of a great case; The narrative needed more style and polish
Review: Stern does an excellent job chronicling the disaster and how the case proceeded from start to finish in excellent detail. For anyone interested to know how a case of this nature is handled by good trial lawyers, this book is an excellent resource. The storytelling aspect was good, but could’ve been much stronger. The ending chapters, in particular, seemed to devolve from narrative prose to bullet pointed paragraphs from Stern’s diary. The information is worthwhile so I still highly recommend the book.

Reviewer: Elijah
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent book
Review: Book shows the pursuit of Justice for the victims of the disaster was successful. Gives a basis for hope for others suffering due to corporate greed to fight for Justice.

Reviewer: Selene Santana
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: GREAT BOOK!
Review: Even though I got this book for class, it was great to get knowledge on what happened in Buffalo Creek!

Reviewer: Garrett Frankis
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Wonderful narrative against corporate immorality
Review: Stern goes into detail about not only the events and people’s pain but also the “lawyering” side of the story. Together, a lot can be learned about how our complex legal system works. A triumph against corporate corruption and lack of care for people, the environment, and anything more than profits.

Reviewer: Insightful Commentator
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: All about the lawyer, not about the victims
Review: This book was required for a law school class. It will be much more appealing for law school students and tort lawyers than readers who are truly interested in the victims of the disaster or the disaster itself. The book is not about disaster but about the author’s legal maneuvering which lead to a successful outcome for his firm and, according to him, for the victims of the disaster. It is easy to read and the author details his strategies he used during litigation. For those who can see through the self-righteous slant and who grow ill of the legal profession, this book is not for you.

Reviewer: Sophia Mills
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Amazing book
Review: I got this book and read it ahead of time for a political science class and I loved it! It’s especially relevant to me and the class since I go to college in West Virginia. This book really opened by eyes to the recklessness of the WV coal industry and exposed the tragic consequences of having a state so heavily influenced by “big coal.” Once I started this book I didn’t want to put it down. I loved that Stern wrote very clearly while beautifully recounting the story of the disaster, and the legal battle that followed. I very much admire Mr. Stern and am frustrated to see that 30 years later, West Virginians and, therefore, West Virginia politicians have an almost religious attachment to the same industry which brought great harm to this state.I definitely will recommend this book to everyone and I am so glad Mr. Stern decided to share this story.

Reviewer: Cliente Amazon
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excelente livro!

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