They Poisoned the World

“Riveting and horrifying… . Blake’s deft chronicle of one of the greatest moral scandals of our time [is] a book that none of us can afford to miss.”—The Washington Post“Blake’s book, a masterly exposé of the chemicals known as PFAS—perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances—similarly reveals the extent to which these toxins permeate our planet. Let us hope that it also leads to the kind of policy shift that a story of this magnitude demands… . This book is critical reading for us all.”—The American Scholar“A crackling David vs. Goliath story … [Blake’s] impressive research provides damning evidence of PFAS manufacturers’ callous indifference. Readers will be outraged.”—Publishers Weekly“Impeccably researched and outrageous both in the scope of [corporate] malfeasance and the efforts of those who support it, the narrative never strays from its relentless documentation of the generational price paid for our decades of lax regulation. A must-read.”—Booklist, starred review“A sharp-edged report on the world that toxic chemicals—and their manufacturers—have made.”—Kirkus Reviews“The insidious compounds we now call ‘forever chemicals’ deserve a forever chronicle, and this is surely it. Mariah Blake has written the definitive account of a slow-motion catastrophe and the everyday heroes who fought to bring it to light.”—Dan Fagin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Toms River“They Poisoned the World is a brilliant and damning investigation of the global chemical industry and the devious methods it employed to promote its risky products. While it is often an enraging book, it is not a despairing one. People in this story stand up, fight, and make a difference.”—Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Poison Squad“The story of a small town struggling with the global disaster that is ‘forever chemicals,’ They Poisoned the World is at once fascinating, enraging, and heartbreaking.”—Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Under a White Sky“This book is equal parts infuriating and inspiring—as always, it takes the extraordinary commitment of ordinary citizens to overcome the reckless greed of corporations. It’s a tale that badly needed to be told, and now it’s been told well.”—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature“They Poisoned the World is a powerful and bighearted book about the hunt for an invisible killer that lives in your kitchen, your water, your clothes, and all around you. Reading it will scare the plastic out of your life.”—Jeff Goodell, author of The Heat Will Kill You First“In They Poisoned the World, Mariah Blake brilliantly overcomes one of the core challenges of environmental journalism—making everyday readers care about the invisible. The result is a poignant and pressing account of one of industrial society’s great secrets. We would do well to pay attention to the evidence that she has marshalled—countless lives are at stake.”—Clayton Page Aldern, author of The Weight of Nature

Mariah Blake is an investigative journalist whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, The New Republic, and other publications. She was a Murrey Marder Nieman Fellow in Watchdog Journalism at Harvard University.