A Civil Action is a non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr about a water contamination case in woburn, massachusetts, in the 1980s. After finding that her child is diagnosed with leukemia, anne anderson notices a high prevale...A Civil Action is a non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr about a water contamination case in woburn, massachusetts, in the 1980s. After finding that her child is diagnosed with leukemia, anne anderson notices a high prevalence of leukemia, a relatively rare disease, in her city.