The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, And The Politics Of Paradise Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
The Everglades was once reviled as a liquid wasteland, and Americans dreamed of draining it. Now it is revered as a national treasure, and Americans have launched the largest environmental project in history to try to save it.The Swamp is the stunning story of the destruction and possible resurrection of the Everglades, the saga of man's abuse of nature in southern Florida and his unprecedented efforts to make amends. Michael Grunwald, a prize-winning national reporter for The Washington Post, takes readers on a riveting journey from the Ice Ages to the present, illuminating the natural, social and political history of one of America's most beguiling but least understood patches of land. The Everglades was America's last frontier, a wild country long after the West was won. Grunwald chronicles how a series of visionaries tried to drain and “reclaim” it, and how Mother Nature refused to bend to their will; in the most harrowing tale, a 1928 hurricane drowned 2,500 people in the Everglades. But the Army Corps of Engineers finally tamed the beast with levees and canals, converting half the Everglades into sprawling suburbs and sugar plantations. And though the southern Everglades was preserved as a national park, it soon deteriorated into an ecological mess. The River of Grass stopped flowing, and 90 percent of its wading birds vanished. Now America wants its swamp back. Grunwald shows how a new breed of visionaries transformed Everglades politics, producing the $8 billion rescue plan. That plan is already the blueprint for a new worldwide era of ecosystem restoration. And this book is a cautionary tale for that era. Through gripping narrative and dogged reporting, Grunwald shows how the Everglades is still threatened by the same hubris, greed and well-intentioned folly that led to its decline.
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (March 27, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743251075
ISBN-13: 978-0743251075
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #90,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #92 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Natural Resources #169 in Books > Science & Math > Environment > Environmentalism #239 in Books > Science & Math > Earth Sciences > Environmental Science
My job touches not so peripherally on Everglades National Park, one of the crown jewels of the U.S. national park system, so I was eager to read this highly recommended summary of the history of the Everglades by Washington Post report Mike Grunwald. Calling this book a summary doesn't do it justice - it's comprehensive without being overly long, it's an excellent read without being too journalistic, its coverage of the issue is broad without being too shallow, and it inflames while also moderating the reasons why, in 2006, the Everglades is still dying, because of our insatiable greed and need for more, more, more - water, land, money, power. I picked up this book a couple months back, connecting with the topic on a professional level, but then as I approached the end of the book, sad news from Florida brought me unexpectedly in personal contact with one of the millions of human stories that pervade the Everglades, Florida, and the politics of paradise, the subtitle of this book - the passing of my aunt, whose husband and sons were some of those folks who greatly enjoyed being swamp rats, hunting, fishing and airboating through the river of grass. Speaking with an uncle who remembers the wilderness that used to be the Everglades 40-50 years ago, we talked about the daily rains that used to come every afternoon, like clockwork, around 4-5pm each day in southern Florida. This book talks about silting of estuaries, muddy waters and phosphorous deposits in the great Lake Okeechobee, depleted water tables, red tides killing endangered or threatened charismatic species like the manatee and dolphins and how the Army Corps of Engineers has falled to figure out 'it's the environment, stupid.
The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise Florida Real Estate Law and Practice Explained (All Florida School of Real Estate - Florida Real Estate Mastery) (Volume 1) Swamp Song: A Natural History of Florida's Swamps An Ecotourist's Guide to the Everglades and the Florida Keys Paddling the Everglades Wilderness Waterway: Your All-in-One Guide to Florida's 99-Mile Treasure plus 17 Day and Overnight Trips (Menasha Ridge Press Guide Books) Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained (Signet Classics) Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained A Most Disorderly Court: Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary (Florida History and Culture) Florida's Wetlands (Florida's Natural Ecosystems and Native Species) Florida's Waters (Florida's Natural Ecosystems and Native Species) Florida's Fabulous Canoe and Kayak Trail Guide (Florida's Fabulous Nature) Guide to Sea Kayaking in Southern Florida: The Best Day Trips And Tours From St. Petersburg To The Florida Keys (Regional Sea Kayaking Series) Florida Real Estate Principles, Practices & Law (Florida Real Estate Principles, Practices and Law) Florida Real Estate License Exam Prep: All-in-One Review and Testing To Pass Florida's Pearson Vue Real Estate Exam Florida Driver's Handbook translated to Russian: Florida Driver's Manual translated to Russian (Russian Edition) Florida Sportsman Sport Fish of Florida Book The Law of Florida Homeowners Associations (Law of Florida Homeowners Associations (Paperback)) Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues (American Made Music (Paperback)) Francis Marion and the Legend of the Swamp Fox A Desolate Place for a Defiant People: The Archaeology of Maroons, Indigenous Americans, and Enslaved Laborers in the Great Dismal Swamp (Co-published with The Society for Historical Archaeology)
