Addison (A Harvest of Thorns) explores a most unusual story of litigation. Eastern North Carolina is home to a large number of pork producers, including Smithfield Foods. The pigs on these farms generate waste, which farmers dump into clay-lined cesspools (called "lagoons") or spray onto fields; the resulting smell creates unlivable conditions for neighbors. Addison examines the ultimately successful nuisance lawsuits brought against Smithfield. Focusing on the plaintiffs' perspective, he combs through court records, conducts interviews to discern the impact on residents, and provides a play-by-play of three trials that argued that Smithfield's waste disposal practices prevented residents from enjoying their property. His exploration of the history of hog farming in North Carolina sheds light on the evolution of this problem. Addison details efforts by lawmakers in the North Carolina General Assembly to protect Smithfield as well as lobbying efforts by pork interest groups--indeed, the influence of lawmakers, lawyers, and money echoes throughout. Addison also emphasizes the racial divide between the Black residents affected by hog waste and the white corporate leadership. Injecting a human touch into what could be a dry subject, he weaves together the personal and political for an exploration of the human impact of corporate greed. VERDICT A highly readable tale of underdogs who took on a mega-corporation and won.--Rebekah Kati

A novelist and trial attorney tells the true story of North Carolina landowners who fought for justice from a multinational corporation over the deleterious practices of large-scale hog farming. Addison begins his absorbing and inspiring narrative with a group of landowners, mostly Black, who worked small plots of farmland in eastern North Carolina. Then neighboring farmers began to build massive hog farms, contracting to raise hogs owned by firms acquired by the Chinese-owned behemoth Smithfield Foods, "the kingpin of East Coast meatpacking." In this page-turning exposé of corporate malfeasance, the author paints a vivid picture of four counties, 5 million hogs, and a hog density "higher than any other place on earth." The animals are raised in abysmal conditions on farms that disperse massive amounts of noxious waste into the water (through leaky waste lagoons) and air (waste sprayed onto empty fields). The toxin- and bacteria-laden waste and the unbearable smell penetrate everything. Meanwhile, the "hog barons" live far from the stench. After they had exhausted regulatory and political remedies, the landowners retained a small but potent law firm to sue for damages, setting in motion a lengthy legal battle pitting small landowners and their lawyers, scientists, and activists against industry executives, their attorneys, fearful locals, and politicians in Smithfield's pocket. Though Addison tints his portrayals of the plaintiffs and their lawyers with a heroic glow, he makes a persuasive case that their advocacy took enormous courage. The atmosphere of threat is palpable throughout the book, as the lawyers and their clients are surveilled and threatened. The author clearly explains the legal strategies involved, and he has a good feel for Southern society and the "historical, entrenched, pestilential prejudice" that still warps it. The book reads like a thriller (John Grisham provides the foreword) and strikingly underscores why American courts are so often a last resort for those wronged by structural economic injustice. A gripping David-vs.-Goliath story that remains suspenseful to the final page. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Addison recalls farm life of old--120 acres, a smattering of animals. Today, farmers are often contract employees for large agricultural corporations. In North Carolina, hogs are the big commodity, for pork producer Smithfield Farms, but the crowding of thousands of hogs into massive barns creates waste management problems. Open lagoons are created to deal with the waste, but they are cesspools of stink. As another management practice, farmers dilute and spray fecal matter on fields. The wind blows both the stench and the matter onto the property of the farms' neighbors', who are predominately people of color. Addison follows two lawyers and their team as they sue Smithfield for the nuisance and diminished quality of life for these neighbors. They devote six years to representing five families in federal court, and they win five times. It's noteworthy that, as Addison shows, there is a better way to handle waste on large hog farms, but corporations resist spending the money. Especially interesting for ag-law students and any reader who appreciates stories of justice served.

In this exceptional account, Addison (A Harvest of Thorns) reveals how a cadre of dedicated lawyers and long-suffering North Carolina families fought, and won, against Big Pork. In 2013, attorney Mona Wallace took on the case of 26-year-old Brandon Taylor, who died from toxic fumes while working at a Smithfield packing plant in Clinton, N.C. This case, which ended only in a fine for Smithfield, was the prelude to a series of major environmental nuisance cases. Over the decades, Smithfield, a food corporation giant, had brought five million hogs to four North Carolina counties, polluting the air and water with billions of gallons of hog urine and feces. The rural, mostly Black families who lived near the farms complained about the stench to no avail. Then, starting in 2018, Wallace and her colleagues brought five successive cases to court. Addison dramatically details the massive legal legwork involved, the heartbreaking stories of the families, the courtroom battles, and the intimidation tactics and social media smears by Smithfield. In 2020, after losing an appeal, Smithfield agreed to settle for an undisclosed amount and was forced to change its pork production for the betterment of the people and land of North Carolina. As John Grisham notes in his foreword, this David versus Goliath story has a happy ending. This high-stakes legal saga is a must-read. Agent: Daniel Baror, Baror International. (June)