Next Monday Evening and Tuesday at Noon: Seamus McGraw

Author of Fracking Bestseller to Appear at Library

Journalist and national bestselling author Seamus McGraw will be at “Fracking Facts” at the Ohio County Public Library on Monday December 12 at 7 PM. He will then present a second program on Tuesday, December 13 at noon at the library’s Lunch With Books series. At 3 PM on the 13^th, McGraw will stop at Books-a Million at the Highlands for a book signing. A bestselling author of national renown, McGraw will discuss his new book, The End of Country, about the battle that ensued after the discovery of Marcellus gas deposits. The conflict pitted corporate America against locals determined to extract their fair share of the windfall-but not at the cost of their way of life. McGraw, a native of the region whose own mother was one of the first to receive a leasing offer, tells the story of the cutthroat dash by petrodollar billionaires to secure drilling leases that will make some poor residents rich, and put the entire community at risk of having its land and water contaminated. About the book, Tom Brokaw said, "The End of Country" is an elegantly written and unsettling account of what can happen when big energy companies come calling in rural America. This cautionary tale should be required reading for all those tempted by the calling cards of easy money and precarious peace of mind. The result too often is bitter feuds, broken dreams, a shattered landscape."

Seamus McGraw is a full-time writer who has seen his work published in Playboy, Reader's Digest, Penthouse, Radar, Spin, and The Forward. He has received the Freedom of Information Award from the Associated Press Managing Editors, as well as honors from the Casey Foundation and the Society of Professional Journalists. McGraw is currently working on a documentary trailer about his family's experiences with the Marcellus shale. He grew up pitching hay and spreading manure on the same fields the gas companies are now prospecting. He still lives in the woods of northeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and four children.

Fracking Facts and Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.