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    What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
    Unavailable
    What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
    Unavailable
    What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
    Audiobook11 hours

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

    Written by Mona Hanna-Attisha

    Narrated by Mona Hanna-Attisha

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The dramatic story of the Flint water crisis, told "with the gripping intrigue of a Grisham thriller" (O: The Oprah Magazine)—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 Michigan—in the name of austerity—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 taps—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 water—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 lead—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 proof—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. Mona—accompanied by an idiosyncratic team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leaders—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 herself—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 their—and all of our—children.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 19, 2018
    ISBN9780525492610
    Unavailable
    What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City

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    Reviews for What the Eyes Don't See

    4.5/5

    47 ratings18 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This amazing story is told by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the Flint, Michigan pediatrician who forced Flint politicians and bureaucrats to acknowledge, accept responsibility and take action to correct the problem of Flint children being poisoned by lead in their water supply.Flint, Michigan was a bankrupt city in crises. As a part of the austerity measures, Flint's mayor was reduced to a titular position and a manager was appointed by the state. As part of the move to save money, Flint's water supply was shifted from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Anti-corrosion chemicals to protect the pipes were not added to the new water – either as a further attempt to save money or through ignorance of the requirement.Although Dr Hanna-Attisha was aware of this, and was also aware of activists' concerns about water quality, she believed the statements by public officials that the water was safe to drink.But at a family cookout, an old friend of hers presented her with proof that all was not well. And Dr Hanna-Attisha only needed to look at her own pediatric records, with their mandated-by-Medicaid blood lead levels to confirm that all was not well.This is a fascinating medical detective and political story. It's also a thorough account of the crises in Flint and other former industrial cities and of Dr. Hanna-Attisha's own story of her parents; immigrants who fled Iran. I was afraid this work would be dry, but I am pleased that it isn't at all. Hanna-Attisha is an engaging storyteller as well as a caring physician with her patients' best interests at heart.This book will be of interest to not only those with an interest in the Flint water problem or environmental helath, but is recommended to readers who enjoy a story of political and medical intrigue. It's also highly recommended for those who enjoyed [The Ghost Map], a 19th century investigation of water quality.
    • 3/5
      I hope that some day soon someone writes a book about the Flint water crisis that combines human interest with scientific facts and public policy implications; in other words, a work of investigative journalism in the tradition of Five Days at Memorial. This is not that book. Instead, this is primarily the memoir of one of the key figures in the crisis, a pediatrician who was instrumental in bringing the situation to the attention of those outside the community. Dr. Mona, as she is called, is also an Iraqi immigrant, and the narrative includes a lot of detail about her loving family and her stellar career as a pediatrician and medical educator in one of the country's most underserved communities. I found that the many digressive chapters that did not deal directly with the crisis and its impact upon the residents of Flint did not hold my interest very well. While I admire Dr. Mona and her work, I did not feel similarly about this book.
    • 4/5
      I had read about the Flint water crisis before, but I learned a lot reading this book. The book is upsetting yet inspiring. I love how the author describes the crisis while telling stories of her family and their origins in Iraq. In Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha I have found a role model. I would highly recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      This is a story that I am very interested in. This is a book that very thoroughly tells that story. However, it is filled with too much personal information about the doctor/author herself. She even included pages about her wedding -- not remotely connected to the story of the lead in the drinking water of Flint, Michigan. I have to confess that I only read half of this book before quitting.
    • 5/5
      Dr. Mona---is truly amazing and I just wish everyone had at least a little piece of her in them! She is a dynamo of the highest order. This book is so full of personality that it is fascinating to read---she takes you through the Flint water crisis moment by moment, a roller coaster of emotional experiences and we get to know her, which is essential to understand why this has meant so much to her. Unfortunately, the situation has still not been "resolved"---the outlines of a solution are there and the water has been switched back but there are so many problems that will remain for a long time to come, and yes, it has left the notice of the media. Hanna-Attisha's book will help but it needs good publicity and sharing. Power and money show up again and again as a potentially dangerous combination---it all depends on the intent of those who have those two things.
    • 4/5
      While lead was slowly poisoning the people of Flint, MI, the majority of government officials and public agencies were conveniently ignoring the sad evidence right under their noses. Fortunately, pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha happened upon the truth and couldn't rest until people were held liable and the problem was addressed.Like many Americans, I was vaguely familiar with the Flint water crisis due to its exposure in the media, but I really had no background knowledge, nor had I particularly made any attempts to follow up on what actually happened in Flint after things came to a head. It's no doubt that lead poisoning is a bad thing, but most of what we hear is in reference to lead-based paint, and once you're aware, you can take reasonable steps to avoid or eliminate those risks. However, if there's lead in your water, that's a whole other ballgame. We, as a modern nation, expect that the higher-ups responsible for public health know what they're doing and trust that they're doing it. But what if they're not? Well, then you have a situation like Flint. Fortunately for Flint, one particular pediatrician cared enough to push the envelope and confront those responsible. She didn't do it alone, and she didn't do it easily. There was a lot of push back and cover-up, and honestly, probably some ignorance as well. And though it seems as though things are still not quite totally resolved, at least they're on the right track to becoming so. This is honestly not a book I would've spontaneously picked up, had I not been reading it for book club. But I'm glad I did, because I certainly learned some things, and yes, even though I don't live in Michigan, it does make me think twice about drinking my tap water. The book itself was enlightening and a decent read. There were a lot of personal and familial and cultural stories interweaved throughout the book, and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that format. While interesting, I'm not convinced it was necessary to this particular story. But regardless, Dr. Mona is certainly a dedicated and caring individual and I would think any child or family would be lucky to have someone like her as their physician.
    • 4/5
      This is a firsthand account by one of the key players in exposing the water crisis in Flint Michigan to the world and driving policy change to help its most vulnerable victims. Mona Hanna-Attisha, M.D. is a pediatrician, teaching professor, and public health researcher. It reads like several things at once: a much deserved victory lap, a fast paced medical thriller, and an autobiography with stories from a family of super achievers. Dr. Mona and her family came to the U.S. to escape Iraq’s civil war, and in this time of heated immigration debate serves as a great reminder of the contributions immigrants continue to make to our country. My only criticism would be the disjointed feel at times from chapters alternating between family stories and an unfolding public health crisis. I would have preferred a Hot Zone style of storytelling. The greater awareness of how much children born into poverty have to overcome to succeed in American society, the inefficiencies of government bureaucracies (particularly in taking austerity measures),and the importance of public health as a medical field will stick with me for a long time. Oh, and I also won’t be drinking any unfiltered tap water! Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed reading this book from start to finish. Everything from the catchy title to the personal account of a peditician's fight to uncover, reveal and do something about the Flint water crisis was intriguing and inspiring to read. The author does a real good job of explaining and breaking down the scientific and medical concerns about lead being in water in easy to understand terms. I liked how the author's own personal story, heritage, and family photos were interwoven with the author's fight to get county and state officials to acknowledge the water crisis they caused and to do something about the poison they let flow into the water affecting over 8,000 kids! It is so tragic to have to acknowledge that this is a true story and one that has only occurred a few years ago. This book is more informative than any of the news coverage on the matter was and a must-read for all concerned citizens, parents anyone concerned about public health issues and even those concerned with environmental justice.
    • 5/5
      A thoroughly well-done account of how Hanna-Attisha broke the Flint water crisis, taking on the indifference (and mendacity) of city, state, and federal agencies to advocate for the city's children. She frames her story well, moving between the context of her family story—activist Iraqis for generations, and immigrant parents who caught the tail end of the American Dream but made sure their children knew of the world's injustices—her own environmental activism as a teen and college student, her life as a pediatrician in an already economically-troubled city, and, front and center, the very dramatic story of her discovery of, and battle against, the urgent crisis of lead-contaminated water that affected the city's already disadvantaged residents. (Was that sentence long enough?) Her recounting of her fight against the powers that be—all against the ticking clock of children's lead exposure—was well written, with plenty of suspense even though anyone who follows the news knows what happened, and her sense of urgency comes through clearly. It's a gripping story, and an important one. I hope this book gets a lot of play, if only to inspire future resisters and activists to stand up for what's right.
    • 5/5
      Profoundly disturbing. This well researched book is an amazing indicator of how much our government needs to be kept in check. Money and greed rules too often and who suffers? We do, especially our children. I have to say how proud I am of so many of the immigrants who come to this country with such brilliant minds who work so hard to make this country better. Bravo!l
    • 5/5
      In a succinct narrative, the pediatrician that understood what had suddenly gone wrong with her many patients and worked against the State of Michigan to expose it. Despite having to cover technical aspects of water treatment, lead exposure in children, and a large state bureaucracy, this stayed suspenseful and original throughout. Part of what helps humanize it is the author linking her family's origins in Iraq and their emigration to the US to the main topic. And one great asset that Flint does have is Hurley Medical Center, which is rightly getting positive attention not just for their role here but in other endeavors.
    • 5/5
      Dr. Mona is my new hero. Great story of how she helped to uncover the Flint water crisis and her advocacy for children. Her arabic background is an added bonus for me.
    • 4/5
      This is the inside story of the Flint water crisis from a pediatrician who saw it from the inside and fought to bring it to attention.

      As a book, it's a little messy; it loops between scientific detection, politics, and a memoir of the author and her family (her parents are Chaldeans who left Iraq for the US). But her narrative voice is compelling. Dr. Hanna-Attisha is committed to justice for her patients, and she's passionate about the failures that allowed Flint's water to be poisoned.

      The politics here are as sobering as the science. They led to the disenfranchisement and abandonment of a majority minority city; to the decay of its infrastructure; to the starvation of its finances; and finally, to the poisoning of its children. There's a larger story here, about our politics and our belief in governmental competence, and I hope other books will go further into the putrid details of it.
    • 5/5
      What the Eyes Don't See is a riveting read. Hanna-Attisha is a pediatrician at Hurley Hospital in Flint, MI. Her narrative of how she discovered rising levels of blood in her pediatric patients and her battle to bring justice to the disenfranchised people of Flint is inspiring and maddening. She describes her anguish and determination to save the children of Flint, how it disrupted her private and family life, and the brick walls and rejection she faced. Thankfully, she was stubborn and determined.The callousness of political leaders toward the people of Flint as unimportant and expendable is despicable.Flint falls right into the American narrative of cheapening black life.~from What the Eyes Don't See by Mona Hanna-AttishaReaders are given a history of Flint's rise as an automotive manufacturing hub, and when jobs left, its decline to becoming one of the state's most impoverished cities. The budget-cutting changes implemented under an appointed Emergency Manager explains how the lead-poisoned water came to be and how officials lied about the poisoned water.If I had to locate an exact cause of the crisis, above all others, it would be the ideology of extreme austerity and "all government is bad government".~from What the Eyes Don't See by Mona Hanna-AttishaDr. Hanna-Attisha called out Senator Debbie Stabenow as an early and important supporter of her goals. The daughter of a nurse, and a former social worker, Senator Stabenow has a commitment to public health. She was part of a team that brought federal aid to Flint and the availability of premixed infant formula so Flint mothers did not need to use the lead-contaminated water. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a local heroine. I am proud to say that she was a graduate of Royal Oak Kimball High School, my alma mater. Her family came to Michigan for education but remained in exile from their homeland after the takeover by Saddam Hussein and the Iraq wars. Dr. Hanna-Attisha first became an activist with a Kimball environmental group. I read an ebook through the local public library.
    • 5/5
      This was a book club choice, otherwise I may not have read it. This book is so much more than a scientific literary work.The author effectively combines her personal life, her dedication to her profession, area history, politics, and scientific research into a powerful read. Page after page she peels back the layers of the cover-up, the unconscionable acts of corruption that resulted in a Federal State of Emergency, and the resulting aftermath.So well written, it pulled me in and kept me emotionally invested in the lives of the people of Flint, and those who worked diligently to bring this tragedy to light.This book will stay with me for a long time.
    • 3/5
      Because this is a memoir, it doesn't allow for a complete accounting of the Water Crisis whether from the different perspectives or from a broader time frame. It was very interesting to see so intimately inside the journey of one person who was at the right place at the right time to combat a gross negligence of local, state, and even national government.
    • 5/5
      This is a well written book: Reads like a mystery. But the problem is the story is true. It is one of the perfect storm of governments failing their functions, the denial and cover-up."This is the story of the most important and emblematic environmental and public health disaster of this young century. More bluntly, it is the story of a government poisoning its own citizens, and then lying about it. It is a story about what happens when the very people responsible for keeping us safe care more about money and power then they care about our children." -- Page 12, Mona Hanna-AttishaPeople like to blame current politicians. But this is a situation that has been a long time in coming --after decades of gutting governmental regulatory agencies. This started as "cutting taxes" and then cutting budgets where they would not be immediately seen or felt by the public. Then it became a way to no longer protect the environment, not by repealing environmental laws but by cutting budget so there is no longer an ability to enforce those laws. I worked in Michigan though this era and observed this happening first hand."For decades, the city and state infrastructure had been neglected in order to save money. State and environmental health agencies had been defunded, and great public servants had become disillusioned and retired, leaving these agencies a shadow of what they were supposed to be. All the budget cuts and sol-called fiscal 'responsibility' had resulted in a winner-take-all culture, a disdain for regulations and career regulators, a rubber-stamping of bad ideas, a gross underfunding of environmental enforcement, limited understanding and expertise in public health, and a disregard for the poor. -- p. 306 Mona Hanna-Attisha
    • 5/5
      What the Eyes Don't See is an eye-opening book. It tells the story of the Flint water crisis first-hand, by one of the people who helped uncover the truth and bring the crisis to light. It's not just a dry, factual reporting of the details though. Dr Mona weaves in fascinating historical bits about epidemiology, the history of GM in Flint, issues of race, and many stories from her ancestors in Iraq. She builds up a picture of who she is and how she came to be involved in the water crisis - and also a picture of who the people of Flint are. She is also really good at building up suspense! I found it hard to put the book down as I followed her attempts to get information and answers, as she kept making contacts with people, kept thinking she was making progress only to have another set-back. But she had to keep trying, despite the stresses to her own family, because children were being poisoned every day!It was maddening to read about all of the government complicity in covering up this tragedy so that people could protect their careers - and to know that without Dr Mona's unique position and ability to get data, they would have succeeded (just like in D.C. years before). But I agree with Dr Mona when she says the cause of the crisis was "the ideology of extreme austerity and 'all government is bad government.' The state of Michigan didn't need less government; it needed more and better government, responsible and effective government." I appreciated reading about this from someone actually involved in it. Only a couple states away, when did I first hear about this crisis and what did I hear? The government was actively vilifying Dr Mona's research and denying there were any issues. With this story in mind, I hope we all think twice about what we hear on the news and from government. If a whistle-blower is being vilified, is said whistle-blower making false claims or is someone in power trying desperately to cover up? Thank you Dr Mona for sharing this story with everyone - I think it will give hope and courage to other people who are up against seemingly impossible fights for justice.