A Climate Of Crisis: America in the Age of Environmentalism

(Paperback)

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Few topics incite more passion and controversy than the idea of climate change. Historian Patrick Allitt argues that a mood of anxiety has long surrounded environmental issues, often eclipsing important realities. In A Climate of Crisis, he offers a provocative history of American environmentalism: from nuclear fears to antipollution protests. He argues that great progress has been made in health, living standards and life expectancy, despite exaggeration and fear-mongering from all sides that have obscured it.

Reviews

The Wall Street Journal:
In recounting partisan battles, Mr. Allitts objectivity is refreshingHis critique of the relentless crisis mentality will lead many environmentalists to dismiss the book as anti-environmental, while anti-environmentalists will object to his conclusion that much conservation has been achieved at little cost to ordinary Americans."

The Weekly Standard:
A book that deserves widespread readership and course adoptionThe virtue of Allitts history is a fresh approach to familiar themes and controversies, and from a perspective only occasionally brought to bear on the subjectHe gets the larger story rightAllitts wide-gauge historical approach is a valuable complement to the many scientific and policy critiques that have piled up over the years.

Martin V. Melosi, author of The Sanitary City and Precious Commodity:
In this sweeping study, Patrick Allitt covers every conceivable major character and event in the modern age of environmentalism. The book is grounded in intellectual history, and seeks to find balance in interpreting the role of environmental advocates and naysayers, in successes and failures of governmental regulation, in objectives and outcomes. The tone is definitely optimistic about the long view of meeting environmental challenges in the United States. At the same time, in linking past to present, Allitt offers caution about what might unfold in the days to come. Above all else, he touts the value of history in assessing Americas complex environmental legacy.

Adam Rome, author of The Genius of Earth Day:
I dont agree with everything in A Climate of Crisis, but Patrick Allitts well-written and provocative book has given me more to think about than any other history of the U.S. environmental movement. A Climate of Crisis is both bracing and exciting.

Author Bio

Patrick Allitt is the Cahoon Family Professor of American History at Emory University, where he has taught since 1988. He was an undergraduate at Oxford and a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, and held postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard Divinity School and Princeton University. The author of six books, he is also the presenter of eight lecture series with "The Great Courses," including "The Art of Teaching."