WriteMyEssay.com

...has accomplished something very unusual in his book, A Civil Action. It's the account of a law suit brought by five families in Woburn, Massachusetts against the industries that contaminated their city's water supply. Their law suit maintained that the chemicals in the water resulted in the leukemia which caused the deaths of five children belonging to these families. It's a completely factual account that reads as if it were a thrilling mystery novel. Harr uses all of the conventions of good fiction to create a a truly remarkable book. He makes excellent use of characterization, dialogue, setting, and plot devices, and turns what might have been a compelling, but dry documentation into a remarkable achievement. In this brief opening, Harr has set up a tone for the book which he maintains throughout. His use of characterization is impeccable. From the onset, Jan Schlichtmann is a real person to the reader, not just a lawyer. His hopes, dreams and personality come across clearly with Harr's masterful use of prose. He sets up the rest of his "cast of characters" in a similar manner. Ann Anderson, Jimmy Anderson, Reverend Young, and the rest of the families in...