Small Town, Big Oil: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the Richest Man in the World―And Won

David W. Moore's book about a community led by three women fighting against three big players who wanted to develop a huge oil refinery at Durham Point in NH is a riveting page turner. Governor Thomson, William Loeb, publisher of Manchester Union Leader and Ari Onassis were powerful and arrogant men that thought they could sell what would surely be an environmental and aesthetic disaster to the people of Durham. They secretly bought up options for hundreds of acres of pristine land surrounding Great Bay, by lying about the purpose of their land grabbing. They tried to mislead many of the land owners, but a few people recognized that there was something fishy going on.What's amazing about this story is that the three men mentioned above lied continuously about the negligible impact that this would have on the community, and exaggerated the number of jobs and tax benefits that would result. After experts countered with very different numbers, they still insisted that this project would be great for the community and people of NH. Unfortunately, these kinds of tactics are used all the time by corporations and politicians to push through plans that ultimately have a negative impact on communities while making a few people rich.Nancy Sandberg, Phyllis Bennet and Dudley Dudley saw through the smoke and mirrors and recognized that destroying a beautiful area of the seacoast was beyond the pale. They organized their community and planned how they could persuade a predominantly conservative legislature that this was a very bad idea and realized that the most effective way to stop it was to fight for Home Rule. They overcame the vitriol that was aimed at them by Loeb and Thomson and triumphed in the end.Because of them and the activism of the people in Save Our Shores, we can continue to enjoy this beautiful and precious area. Great Bay is home to five water dominated habitats, and there is a growing effort to rebuild oyster reefs not only for oyster consumption, but because oysters filtrate the water and cut down pollution. I am so thankful to the people that fought to save the bay, and to David Moore who brought this story to vivid life.

Who rules the world..... Women! At least in New Hampshire these women do. This is how to form a movement, get it to take root, and keep nurturing it for the benefit of an entire state. This is why New Hampshire the granite state. These women are the rock foundation that the state still stands on. Way to go ladies!

Very interesting true story and well told. The author knows the people and the area well and keeps is the reader involved to the end.

Asocially relevant book that demonstrates what educated,determined people can do to protect the public good.ML

This is the story of a small NH town that was threatened by the state's governor with an Aristotle Onassis oil refinery. Ultimately a few very smart and courageous people in the town prevented this from happening. Many parallels with today's politics! I recommend reading this, and it probably could be a movie.

I moved to NH 21 years ago and met some of the people involved but did not understand how difficult the stopping of Onassis building a refinery in Seacoast NH was. So appreciative of the effort that was made.

It was an amazing story!

This book about a small New Hampshire town's battle against Aristotle Onassis's decision to locate an oil refinery along its shores comes at an opportune time, given women's current ascendancy in the political sphere. The author focuses on three women who led Durham's Save Our Shores charge in 1974: Nancy Sandberg, a concerned citizen; Dudley Dudley, a state representative; and Phyllis Bennett, publisher of the local paper.An activist for any cause would find this book a useful step-by-step guide to organizing a David-like campaign against a Goliath. Seemingly every meeting, every phone call, every newspaper article, every conversation is recounted. The local newspaper, Publick Occurrences, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting, a fact that should have kept me riveted to the book, as journalism is my passion. And, in fact, I found myself skipping chapters to get to the ones about Phyllis Bennett and the newspaper.But I knew I was in trouble when I started to look for the next story about Lester the Arrester or Steve-and-Shaunna. The gossip about the Onassis/Jackie Kennedy marriage was also welcome relief. Those minor asides provided the diversion I needed from the microscopic examination of the battle. But, even though I found the book to be information overload, I did learn a lot about New Hampshire politics and the empowering nature of Home Rule.Written in the third person, the narrative is enlivened by the author's interviews with the three women, as well as others involved in the campaign. Because of its reliance on primary sources, the book presents not only people's actions but their thoughts and feelings, which provides a depth not found in academic accounts of this environmental campaign.

True story about Jackie O's husband. Bought for university class.