An Appalachian Tragedy: Air Pollution and Tree Death in the Eastern Forest of North America [Hardcover]

Harvard Ayers (Editor), Jenny Hager (Editor), Charles E. Little (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-Professor Ayers, photojournalist Hager, and conservationist Little have created an aptly entitled visual field trip through "our most ancient mountains." Combining cogent argument with artistry, their work is a devastatingly beautiful depiction of the cumulative effect of 40 years of air pollution on the Appalachian Mountains. The book opens with a mini photo-essay in which full-page, color photographs of a chemical plant in Alabama and electrical towers in West Virginia lie juxtaposed with those of dead trees in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The superb photos, supported by brief explanatory text, introduce each of the book's five sections; an in-depth essay by an authority in the field follows. The book's strength lies in the editors' vision. They go beyond merely documenting the devastation to trees and other plant life to illustrate the interdependency of forest ecology. "The Broken Web of Life" tells what happens to life forms from fungi to earthworms to panthers when, for example, the pH levels of water are lower than that of vinegar. "A Culture at Risk" portrays mountain communities' struggles to preserve their livelihood, their culture, and their beliefs, even in the face of government and corporate despoliation. The book concludes with a "Call to Action." This fine work will reward YAs whether their interest is science, sociology, or simply piqued curiosity.-Dori DeSpain, Herndon Fortnightly Library, Fairfax County, VA

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A noted photojournalist along with a diverse group of editors and writers have produced an excellent book describing tree death (the result of air pollution) and its environmental and cultural effects in the Appalachian Mountains. The format is superb, presented in sections covering basic forest ecology, tree death, the effect on communities, the effect on culture, and a call to action. Each section begins with an introduction, includes a superb photographic essay in support of the topic, and concludes with an extensive guest essay from an expert in that topic. Especially poignant are the sections describing cultural impact; many are not obvious yet are quite serious. Strong opinions are not minced, making this a valuable and recommended addition for all environmental collections.?Nancy J. Moeckel, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books for Children (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871569760
• ISBN-13: 978-0871569769
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,743,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Important read, November 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: An Appalachian Tragedy: Air Pollution and Tree Death in the Eastern Forest of North America (Hardcover)

Photographers: note the photos, and the stark parallel images of trees versus factory stacks. They make the point of the entire book in dramatic thought-provoking images that make you want to go out and stop every smoke-producer in the world.

5.0 out of 5 stars An Appalachian Tragedy, November 18, 2008

By 

Margaret E. Oiler (Thurman, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Appalachian Tragedy: Air Pollution and Tree Death in the Eastern Forest of North America (Hardcover)

This book is about mountaintop removal in the pristine Appalachian mountains where I grew up. The coal industry is blasting the mountaintops off and scooping out the coal, shoving all the tops into the valleys and leaving the area desolate and ugly. West Virginia is a very poor state made poorer by this process because the few houses remaining are overcome by dust from the blasting and all the mountain people can do is stand and watch their homes become more worthless until the coal company buys them out. This is a true book and amazing that they can get away with it with only a handful of people trying to help. There has to be another way to get the coal like the miners have been doing for so many years without destroying the beautiful mountains.

4.0 out of 5 stars Seeing the forest through the trees, November 19, 2007

By 

Cecil Bothwell "Author of "Whale Falls: A... (Asheville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Appalachian Tragedy: Air Pollution and Tree Death in the Eastern Forest of North America (Hardcover)

From the moment you turn back the cover of this eloquent plea for action your understanding begins to grow. Pictures. Pictures. Smokestacks. Skeletal trees. Power lines. Dying forests. And then the text: essays concerning the history, sociology, ecology and above all the beauty of our Eastern mountain forests. Each step of the way Jenny Hager's practiced vision illuminates the argument: this is the priceless landscape we are losing -- this is the cause. Some years ago I engaged in a brief scurmish with a scientist of the Doubting Thomas sort, who demanded equal radio time to shoot down my assertions about the pollution triggered plague which is overwhelming our mountain eco-system. "No proven mechanism," he told the audience. "Each tree specie is dying of independent causes. Just coincidence ...." Right. The utterly damning evidence is collected in this volume with a carefully compiled bibliography to bolster the claims. Anyone who can pass through this book and remain sanguine about forest health and dirty air is either brain- dead or in the employ of the polluting industries. (As was the "scientist" who took me to task. I later learned he was a hireling of the TVA.) A heartrending plea for action, one can only hope that AN APPALACHIAN TRAGEDY will help move a large enough segment of our population to demand meaningful pollution control before the Eastern forests are completely converted into memory and myth.