If it can happen in Beverly Hills, it can happen anywhere. The Poisoning of an American High School is a feat of investigative reportage and the product of four years of research by award-winning journalist Joy Horowitz. Making lucid the tangled issues of public health, regulation, and the political power of industry, it tells a riveting tale ripped from newspaper headlines--a cancer cluster affecting graduates of one of America's most affluent schools, Beverly Hills High. The Poisoning of an American High School presents the behind-the-scenes saga of the 2003 landmark toxic tort suit, in which more than one thousand plaintiffs, with the sensational Erin Brockovich as their champion, claimed their illnesses could be traced to exposure to the oil derricks just yards from school grounds.

Author Biography

Joy Horowitz is a freelance journalist and former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Los Angeles magazine, and many other national publications. She has been the recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship, as well as a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her reporting on indoor air pollution for the Los Angeles Times. She lives in Santa Monica, California.