Introduction to An Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen

In An Enemy of the People, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen dramatizes what happens when the truths of science clash with the financial aspirations of a community. A small coastal town in Norway is experiencing an economic boom from its hotsprings, which were developed as a tourist attraction. When Dr. Thomas Stockmann, the health inspector of the Baths, finds that the springs are dangerously contaminated, the townspeople, and even his brother, the Mayor, refuse to accept his claims and turn against him.