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.
Michael Grunwald is a reporter at "The Washington Post." He has
won the George Polk Award for national reporting, the Worth Bingham
Prize for investigative reporting, and many other awards. He lives
in Miami with his wife, Cristina Dominguez.
Visit his website at www.michaelgrunwald.com.
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