Molly Ivins: Procrastination central (annual holiday gift book list)

[Dudley_DUright]

DD: Excuse me Bill, I meant to say Christmas book list... NOT!

Pre-procrastination Christmas booklist! Look at this, fellow procrastinators -- almost two weeks before the actual day, and here I am to solve all your shopping problems with the annual one-stop, hit-the-bookstore with less than 24-hours-to-go, all-purpose Procrastinator's List.

Now, the only challenge is to hang onto the list long enough to get to a bookstore, lest we ONCE AGAIN wind up as the last customer at the Jiffy Mart at 11:45 p.m. Christmas Eve, trying to decide whether our nearest and dearest would prefer a nice jug of STP 40W or the new hemorrhoid cure.

For a terrific read and a great political yarn, "An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas" is my nomination for best surprise book of the year.

The story of Diane Wilson and her decade-long fight against a multinational chemical company pretty much has everything from corporate chicanery to political hoggery to fab Texas characters. It's a bit like a true version of John Le Carre's "The Constant Gardener," only starring a chemical company and a true-grit Texas working-class woman with five kids and a mouth on her, who just happens to be one of the best writers I've come across in years. Not just enviros, activists and liberals, but all will celebrate what one citizen can do against power.

more...

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=20061

[alarimer]

1. I really want to read that Diane Wilson book

I know a little bit about Seadrift. Formosa Plastics had been polluting the bay for years. Even now, part of it is off limits to fish consumption.

[Dudley_DUright]

2. Molly is such a great writer herself, so if she says that Diane Wilson

is a great writer I would tend to believe her.