Silence in the Sound: The Adventure

By Merle Savage

When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989 more than 100,000 barrels of oil flooded the shoreline, contaminating the pristine waters of the Alaskan... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1413713300
• ISBN13: 9781413713305
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Publishamerica Inc
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

What an Adventure!!

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that it was well written and had a difficult time putting it down. I loved hearing about the "behind the scenes" drama that occured during the oil spill. Big Business America doesn't always want us to know what is going on. I found this book entertaining and educational. Because it's fiction I found myself wondering what was true and what wasn't. Either way, Merle Savage is a very tough woman. I was very impressed and proud to hear of the accomplishments of a strong woman in this male dominated fiasco.

Excellent Adventure!

After reading Silence in the Sound by Merle Savage, I felt like I had been on board the same vessels and experienced the same situations that had been described in the book. Without knowing what an oil spill cleanup would involve, the process was very evident in Savage's vivid descriptions. It was not as if Merle Savage was a reporter who was sent out to get the big story. She signed on to clean beaches and attained the role of General Foreman while working. While employed she learned of work related discrepancies that made her take a stand and speak out. I admire anyone who goes against the system for what they believe in, even when they could lose their job. I found that the discrimination between the sexes was inexcusable, but that goes on in all work places. I am sure that Merle Savage had a difficult time keeping one step ahead of events, but it seems that she was pretty much on top of her game. I sensed she had little work experience of that nature, but appreciate that she handled herself with excellent on the job training abilities. There are very few women who could have completed that type of job to make an impact on the situations like she did. I found the Adventure, intriguing, compelling, mysterious, and entertaining. I am glad that Merle Savage kept a journal of the events and put them to print so we can catch a glimpse of current history that happened in our life time. In 1989 when the Exxon Valdez oil spill was top news for a short time, there was never really any detailed coverage about what was taking place. I know it has been a few years but at last someone came forward to share with the world what happened and how one oil company controlled the spill and the cleanup without supervision. Exxon was responsible for the transporting of crude oil across the State of Alaska and the waters of Prince William Sound, and did not have an oil response recovery course of action available. During the 13 days before the cleanup began is when the wildlife endured the oil invasion and most suffered with loss of life. How one company was allowed to get away with such a disaster with nothing but a slap on the wrist is only a sample of what goes on in every day life. With wealthy conglomerates dominating our life style like the pharmaceutical, oil companies, and media there is little hope that we will receive the real story. The fact that this is Merle Savage's first book makes me look on Silence in the Sound as an encounter with a breaking news story that should have been printed 16 years ago.

Silence in the Sound: The Adventure

Silence in the Sound the Adventure - A story that needed to be told I was stationed in Alaska when the Exxon Valdez event occurred. When John Keeble's book Out of the Channel was published, I read how devastating the impact was to the Sound. Keeble's book covered all the technical aspects of how the oil was retrieved from the beaches, with interviews about the count of oil collected in barrels, how many boats were rented, and the equipment that was used during that summer. Silence in the Sound the Adventure is about a woman's working relationship with other employees who cleaned the beaches and the ordeals they faced and also gave insight into the lives of some of the workers. Throughout the workday Merle dealt mostly with people and therefore filled her book with personal experiences we otherwise would have never known about. Merle's details about the day-to-day tasks performed under weather hardships were similar to the many marches I endured in the rain while on active duty. Her descriptions of how the beaches were cleaned made it easy to identify with the work process. I found the author to be knowledgeable in her perception of the devastating events and human correlation. Working in an environment with little supervision or guidelines made it possible for Merle to operate under her own influence. Thirty years ago when I joined the Army the military was totally different than today. At that time there were very few servicewomen and I underwent sexual harassment every day. It was a time when "No" meant no promotion for women. I came up the ranks the hard way, so I have empathy for what Merle went through. It takes courage for a woman to work in a man's world and maintain her dignity. This was a grand adventure for Merle and I am glad that she shared her story.

Silence In The Sound "The Adventure" A Woman's View in

Technical this book in is not. We don't really know anything about the Exxon clean up because Exxon will never allow the truth to be published. So let's settle for the next best thing...........a published book about the human aspect of the catastrophe. Silence in The Sound "The Adventure", is a book that allowed me to folllow through the three months of the cleanup with Merle as she related the daily events that occurred.. it seemed everyday was a battle for her in the position as General Foreman.Even after proving herself to be a responsible leader,she had to fight to maintaim the rank without compromising her principles. There has been and always will be sexual discrimination in all areas in life. For both male and female. It is no wonder that in a situation where there are very little boundaries nor confinements of justice. The prejudice and indifferences would prevail especially in the work forces. Merle shows bravery in situations when there was a need which far exceeded normal expectations. Relying on her journal, she seems to keep the story together,making it a very interesting read with actual events of our time. The personal stories about some of the people she met demonstrated compassion of this writer especially when she shared the story about her father. I recommend Silence in The Sound 'the Adventure as a different point of reference concerning the Alaskan oil spill cleanup from someone whe actually lived and survived the expereince.

This book is great...

I have never read a story that provides as much detail as this. If you like to know what's behind the curtain this story will certainly give you that. The cleaning up of the alaskan oil spill, in being horrendous, was almost as bad as the actual spilling of the oil. I could not stop reading it and am glad I finished it. Highly recommended.