The Spill: Personal Stories from the Exxon Valdez Disaster

by Stan Jones, Stan Jones

A Warning for Future Twenty years after the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, sixty-two men and women share personal stories of what they saw, how they reacted, and how they coped with North America s worst tanker oil spill. Their anger and anguish had receded from view like oil seeping into rocky crevices on the beaches of Prince William Sound, but the terrible memories were never far from the surface. The stories tell of a shockingly slow response, the struggle to save the stricken tanker, the often heroic but largely futile efforts to limit the spread of oil and clean the beaches, a heart-breaking loss of fish and wildlife, a crippling blow to the commercial fishing industry, lingering social problems, and a loss of innocence among Alaskans who believed this spill would never happen. Reliving their experiences are fishermen, Native villagers, biologists, environmentalists, sociologists, Exxon executives, the governor, mayors, journalists, workers who washed oily rocks even the skipper of the ill-fated ship. For many of them, as one sociologist put it, the only way the Exxon Valdez disaster will end is when they die. For the rest of us, the spill is a cautionary tale about the high cost of complacency and neglect, and fair warning of the perils of putting off disaster planning for another day. One day, tomorrow will be too late.

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2009

About the author

Stan Jones is a writer of mystery novels, and is co-author of a non-fiction oral history book.

He has written seven books in the Nathan Active mystery series. He is also the co-author (with Sharon Bushell) of The Spill: An oral history of the Exxon Valdez disaster.

THE SAND GARDEN, installment No. 1 in his Dana Forsythe Mysteries was published in November 2023. It's based in the Palm Springs area and features a female private detective. Mary Wasche was his co-author on THE SAND GARDEN.

He was born in Anchorage, Alaska, where he lives today.

Reviews

[Ruth York · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of interviews highlighting first hand accounts of how the Exxon Valdez oilspill changed their lives. Some of the stories are shocking, some left me angry, some sad. The accounts include those of people who worked for Exxon. It was sometimes interesting to see how they viewed their response to the spill, vs. the view of those who lived in the areas impacted.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the way that they presented the stories in this book. By combining the stories from all sides (Exxon, government, fishermen, local officials) it goes through the timeline in a logical manner and gives a pretty good non-biased understanding of the events. Yes, the people interviewed may have a biased opinion on how things were handled, but the book gives you a small taste of numerous perspectives.

[Kathy Guilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the most amazing book and such a tragic true story. It was so heartbreakingly sad, yet told in such an excellent manor. I really liked the interviews and didn't realize the devistating affect the oil spill had on so many people. I highly recommend this book to everyone!!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading, esp. if you weren't around for the spill.