Jordan's "We the Poisoned" Reviewed by Publishers Weekly!

"It’s a vital report on a horrific scandal," Publishers Weekly writes in review of Jordan Chariton's "We the Poisoned: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans"

Hey folks, it’s Jordan.

If you don’t know, my first book, “We the Poisoned: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans" is a little over two months from its release (in stores on August 6th, pre-order available now).

I’m currently working on a plan for a book rollout—which will include a few events—but wanted to get on your radar a positive review just posted by Publishers Weekly.

Here’s part of PW’s review:

“In this impassioned debut exposé, journalist Chariton details the official decisions that led to a public health crisis in Flint, Mich., and its subsequent cover-up…as the outcry escalated, Snyder’s administration began shredding documents and trying to buy off victims. In 2019, a newly elected state prosecutor halted the investigation begun by her predecessor (whose files Chariton managed to access). Chariton’s narrative is powered by indignation as he chronicles the catastrophe’s legacy (including increased cancer rates) and jaw-dropping government malfeasance (“The corruption was so shameless, I thought I had misheard,” he writes of learning about the attempted payoffs). It’s a vital report on a horrific scandal.”

As humbly as I can put it, I put everything I have—and everything I am—into this book. More specifically, eight years of reporting, 21 reporting trips to Flint, hundreds of hours of interviews and conversations with residents, sources, and god knows how many hours spent combing through confidential documents. I did this not to grow my personal career or fortune (trust me, continuing to cover a story like the Flint water crisis did neither). I stayed on this story—ultimately resulting in a book that I believe will expose the biggest government cover up of the 21st century—because as a journalist, and human being, I could not in good conscience allow the following to be normalized and swept under the rug.

• Step 1: Corporate profiteers/privatizers, along with politicians, run financial scheme that poisons major American city.

• Step 2: Governor & unelected emergency managers—aided by lazy and corrupt media—knowingly allow Flint residents to drink and bathe in poison for nearly two years while actively preventing the truth from going public.

• Step 3: After the truth goes public and the Flint water crisis becomes a global scandal, a Republican governor and his administration—aided by Wall Street, corporate America, and Michigan’s own attorney general—launch a massive government cover up to bury the truth of who-knew-what-when and WHY this really happened from getting out.

• Step 4: Massive PR and media campaign—marked by fraudulent water testing and data—launches to declare Flint’s water “restored” and spin a narrative that Flint is no longer in crisis…and is now in a “recovery.”

• Step 5: Divert hundreds of millions of federal and state money—money that was earmarked to go to Flint residents for water crisis relief—to banks, law firms, real estate developers, and other entities not at all linked to relieving a water crisis.

• Step 6: New Democratic Governor and Attorney General join cover up, toeing a false narrative that Flint’s water is “safe” and abandon their promises to the people of Flint. Inexplicably, the new AG fires top criminal prosecutors and investigators who were pursing serious criminal charges—including financial racketeering (RICO)—against the purveyors who engineered Step 1. AG then re-launches a new investigation, which becomes an unmitigated disaster, and the Michigan Supreme Court tosses her criminal charges against ex-Governor and other top officials.

• Step 7: Government, law enforcement, and media collectively bury the Flint water crisis—and cover up—under the rug and allow Flint residents to slowly die amidst an exploding cancer surge (from the toxic water) and other illnesses wrought from being attacked by toxic water. For more on this, WATCH Status Coup’s recently released documentary “Flint Fatigue.”
  

Unfortunately, in today’s news and content industry, submerged with a gazillion podcasts, social media platforms, streaming services, and traditional cable and legacy outlets, it is very hard to capture people’s attention—much less keep their attention on a tragedy, or scandal, that happened a decade ago. It has been a major challenge to continue reporting on the Flint water cover up (and frankly I can write a whole other book JUST ON MAJOR MEDIA’S ROLE IN THE COVER UP AND SHAMEFUL RESPONSES TO ME).

I don’t expect this book to rise to become a number 1 best seller or anything—my main hope is that as many people as possible in Flint read the book and learn the full story of who poisoned them and why. Outside of Flint, I hope as many truth-seeking Americans, and people around the world, read it to learn that as dangerous a threat as toxic water is to our health and families—toxic government built on legalized bribery and service to plutocrats is the graver threat enabling our water and other necessities to be poisoned.

I hope as many of you as possible will pre-order the book. I’ll have more to share on this during our monthly Status Coup members call Thursday night at 7:30 eastern!

Jordan