Reviews
Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis by Sandra Steingraber
vmjanek's review against another edition
4.0
Rounding up to 5 stars for the science and social journalism, but be prepared for the author's high level of privilege to be abundantly clear. Still, well worth reading.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
Read this for class, and honestly, if it hadn't been on the syllabus, I doubt I would have carried on past the first or second chapter. (Well—I wouldn't have picked it up to begin with. Not my normal thing. So bear that in mind.) Steingraber is without question a good writer, and she has the science background to substantiate the things she talks about, but it's definitely aimed at parents. It's also kind of aimed at making you sure that everything around you is going to kill you, and probably sooner rather than later.
It's not a difficult read, and I learned a lot. Accessible and clear. Didn't love her tone (my mother did a lot of the stuff that Steingraber touts as good things—breastfeeding, shopping at co-ops, keeping a garden, line-drying, using a human-powered push mower, etc.—but without...well. Without suggesting that others were doing it wrong and were doing themselves a tremendous disservice by, say, not breastfeeding?) but I respect what she's doing. I might pick up [b:Living Downstream|183756|Living Downstream A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment|Sandra Steingraber|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388506911s/183756.jpg|177588] at some point.
It's not a difficult read, and I learned a lot. Accessible and clear. Didn't love her tone (my mother did a lot of the stuff that Steingraber touts as good things—breastfeeding, shopping at co-ops, keeping a garden, line-drying, using a human-powered push mower, etc.—but without...well. Without suggesting that others were doing it wrong and were doing themselves a tremendous disservice by, say, not breastfeeding?) but I respect what she's doing. I might pick up [b:Living Downstream|183756|Living Downstream A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment|Sandra Steingraber|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388506911s/183756.jpg|177588] at some point.
kimfullofbright's review against another edition
4.0
this book changed my thinking about the environmental crisis. it allowed me to think differently about how to parent when it comes to taking action in individual ways to act and also raises the question of environmental and health regulations.
rachel_b_824's review against another edition
5.0
Engagingly written call to arms that isn't soul-crushingly depressing. It will make you angry that your government cares more about corporate interests than about keeping your children safe.
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