Structure

The book’s overall structural is chronological, following the story of Stacey Haney and others as they struggle to receive recognition of, and compensation for, the negative effects of fracking on their lives. There are occasional diversions from that main narrative as author Eliza Griswold comments on the scientific, legal, or historical aspects of Stacey’s struggle. Ultimately, though, the main narrative line follows a primarily linear trajectory from a point of beginning (i.e. the 2010 Washington County Fair, the events of which the author identifies as a starting point of Stacey’s journey) to a point of conclusion (i.e. a meeting some eight years later at which Stacey and her primary allies agreed to a compensation package in recognition of the suffering experienced by her and her family)

The chapters developing that main narrative line are divided into three parts. Part I, “Hoopies,” considers the...