A Climate of Crisis: America in the Age of Environmentalism (Penguin History of American Life)

'Crisis' is almost an axiom in today's environmental dialogues, evoking everything from endangered species to climate change. While historian Patrick Allitt acknowledges the need for concern, he contends that this mood of anxiety has sometimes eclipsed the facts. In A Climate of Crisis, he offers a provocative history of the U.S. environmental movement - from nuclear fears to antipollution protests to ozone and carbon politics - showing that great progress has been made in air and water quality, health, living standards, and life expectancy, despite exaggeration and fear-mongering from all sides that have sometimes obscured it. Ambitious yet concise, A Climate of Crisischallenges our basic assumptions about the environment, no matter what our politics - reminding us that all-too-present answers are sometimes found in questioning the past.