Westmoreland Reads invites the community to an upcoming author event with Westmoreland Reads invites the community to an upcoming author event with Pulitzer Prize-winner Eliza Griswold, the author of Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America. The book is the 2026 Westmoreland Reads common read selection, and the community is invited to join the discussion on this important topic.
The author event will begin at 7 p.m. on Oct. 22 in the Ferguson Theater at the University of Pittsburgh at ĢƵ. This event is free and open to the public.
Griswold, who won a Pulitzer for authoring the book, is a journalist who tells the story of the energy boom’s impact on a small town in Washington County (PA). The fracking boom in the early 2000s forced Stacey Haney, a local nurse, to become an unlikely activist as she puzzled through the negative changes to both her children’s health and that of the animals on her farm. Griswold based the book on seven years of immersive reporting and reveals what happens when an imperiled town faces a crisis of values, and a family wagers everything on an improbable quest for justice. (from )
Free copies of the book (print and audio) may be obtained here (while supplies last). Westmoreland Reads also offers discussion guide and chapter-by-chapter reading questions that were especially designed for use with individual and community book discussion groups.
“I am very proud to be going into year five of this unique program that combines our campus common read with a larger community read,” said Sheila Confer, EdD, assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, director of the Academic Village, and the founder of Westmoreland Reads. “Each year we try to choose a book that can capture the interest of both students and the community. This particular book has a connection to our campus, both geographically and personally, as one of our faculty, and some of our students were involved in collecting samples from the Haney farm.”
Griswold uses Haney’s story to trace a wider set of tensions:
Economic hope vs. harm: Gas leases brought cash to families who had been struggling for generations, which made it hard for some to question the industry.
Community division: Neighbors who profited from leases often clashed with those who felt they were being harmed.
Weak oversight: The book describes regulatory gaps and an industry whose power often outweighed that of the residents.
Legal limits: Lawsuits and settlements, some with confidentiality terms, kept much of the evidence out of public view.
Politics and identity: Griswold also covers how issues like energy independence, patriotism, and distrust of outsiders shaped how people in the region talked about drilling.
Confer’s commitment to Westmoreland Reads is strong because she sees first-hand how the program encourages reading and feeds discussion. “First of all, I want people reading more books. Anytime we can get a group of people together to read and discuss the same material, interesting and eye-opening conversations can happen,” she explained. “Pitt-ĢƵ is committed to providing opportunities for our students, faculty, staff and community to engage in civil discourse and shared learning. By reading and discussing stories about our fellow human beings, we can embrace our shared humanity, learn from each other, and grow as individuals.”
ĢƵ Emilia Griswold:
Eliza Griswold has written six books of poetry and nonfiction, all published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Her book Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. She writes for The New Yorker, is the Ferris Professor and Director of the Program in Journalism at Princeton University, and lives in New Jersey with her husband and son.
ĢƵ Westmoreland Reads:
Westmoreland Reads is Pitt-ĢƵ’s common read program and seeks to bring the campus and Westmoreland County communities together to engage in learning by reading and discussing books that present a diversity of themes that cross disciplines. The intention is to help students to build reading comprehension skills, understand diverse opinions and experiences, think critically about current societal issues, and build oral and written communication skills through discussions and class assignments.
By sharing the common book with the greater Westmoreland County community, Westmoreland Reads hopes to build a sense of community while looking at the same book through an interdisciplinary lens to make connections and engage in conversations with others across disciplines, interests, and age groups.
ĢƵ the University of Pittsburgh at ĢƵ:
Founded in 1963, the University of Pittsburgh at ĢƵ is a publicly assisted, four-year, liberal arts college in southwestern Pennsylvania. Pitt-ĢƵ offers 31 baccalaureate degree programs, including new majors in data analytics, nursing, and healthcare management, as well as 31 minors and five certificate programs. With nearly 1,400 students, more than 10,000 alumni, and faculty and staff numbering 260, Pitt-ĢƵ provides a vibrant, diverse community that is a dynamic model of a liberal arts education. As part of the University of Pittsburgh system, Pitt-ĢƵ offers the resources of a world-renowned university combined with the individualized and immersive experiences of a small liberal arts college. Creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit permeate the campus and extend into its many collaborative projects with the Westmoreland County community. Nestled in Pennsylvania’s beautiful Laurel Highlands, the campus is surrounded by the region’s outdoor recreation venues and rich history. It is a five-minute drive from uptown ĢƵ and less than an hour’s drive from Pittsburgh.