In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mt. St. Helens [Paperback]

Charles Goodrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2008

As it erupted in 1980, Mount St. Helens captured the attention of the region, nation, and the world, and it continues to fascinate us today— a constant reminder that we live in a volcanic landscape. In lucid prose and poetry by some of America’s leading writers and ecologists, In the Blast Zone explores this story of destruction and renewal in all its human, geological, and ecological dimensions. Most popular accounts of the momentous eruption have focused on the devastation it caused. More recent scientific work on Mount St. Helens tells a story of unexpectedly rapid and varied ecological and geological change. In the Blast Zone is the first book to present a cross-pollination of literary and scientific perspectives on the mountain’s history of cataclysm and renewal. Most of the contributors to this volume camped together on Mount St. Helens for four days in 2005—the 25th anniversary of the eruption— hiking, learning the ecology, and sharing ideas. They asked the question: What can this radically altered landscape tell us about nature and how to live our lives? In the Blast Zone collects some of their answers. While introducing fascinating ecological and geological insights, it also tells compelling stories about how science informs our lives and our relationship to nature. These writings will startle readers with new recognition of the matchless gift Mount St. Helens makes to our region and the world: the gifts of beauty, of scientific illumination, of hope.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles Goodrich is Program Director of the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word at Oregon State University and the author of The Practice of Home: Biography of a House.

Kathleen Dean Moore is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at OSU, where she directs the Spring Creek Project and serves as the university’s first Writer Laureate. She is the author of several books, most recently The Pine Island Paradox: Making Connections in a Disconnected World.

Frederick J. Swanson is a Research Geologist with the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, in Corvallis, Oregon. He is co-editor of Ecological Responses to the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens and has spent his career working on interactions of geological and ecological forces in mountain lands.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Oregon State University Press (May 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870711989
• ISBN-13: 978-0870711985
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles Goodrich worked for twenty-five years as a professional gardener, and has also worked as a correctional work crew supervisor, a short-order cook, and a carpenter. He is the author of a volume of poems, Insects of South Corvallis, a collection of essays about nature, parenting, and building his own house, The Practice of Home, and the forthcoming, Going to Seed: Dispatches from the Garden. He also co-edited the volume In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mount St. Helens. He presently serves as Program Director for the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word at Oregon State University. FMI: www.charlesgoodrich.com