Pandora's Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway [Hardcover]

Jeff Alexander (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 087013857X | ISBN-13: 978-0870138577 | Publication Date: May 7, 2009 | Edition: 1

The St. Lawrence Seaway was considered one of the world's greatest engineering achievements when it opened in 1959. The $1 billion project-a series of locks, canals, and dams that tamed the ferocious St. Lawrence River-opened the Great Lakes to the global shipping industry.
     Linking ports on lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario to shipping hubs on the world's seven seas increased global trade in the Great Lakes region. But it came at an extraordinarily high price. Foreign species that immigrated into the lakes in ocean freighters' ballast water tanks unleashed a biological shift that reconfigured the world's largest freshwater ecosystems.
     Pandora's Locks is the story of politicians and engineers who, driven by hubris and handicapped by ignorance, demanded that the Seaway be built at any cost. It is the tragic tale of government agencies that could have prevented ocean freighters from laying waste to the Great Lakes ecosystems, but failed to act until it was too late. Blending science with compelling personal accounts, this book is the first comprehensive account of how inviting transoceanic freighters into North America's freshwater seas transformed these wondrous lakes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...skillfully chronicles how the realization of a centuries-old dream of a commercial shipping passage between the Great Lakes and saltwater seas has spawned an invasion of foreign fish, pathogens and other unwanteds that has damaged native fisheries, killed birds, and cost the public billions of dollars to control...Alexander's writing is as compelling as his conclusion. - Dave Dempsey, Conservation Minnesota --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jeff Alexander is an award-winning environmental journalist and author of The Muskegon: The Majesty and Tragedy of Michigan's Rarest River.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 431 pages
• Publisher: Michigan State University Press; 1 edition (May 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087013857X
• ISBN-13: 978-0870138577
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #636,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An impressive read!, December 1, 2009

By 

snake74 (ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pandora's Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway (Hardcover)

A must read for those interested in the true story of the destruction of one of the world's great natural resources, the North American Great Lakes. But, this is not simply a Great Lakes story, as evidenced by the quagga mussel expansion out west (chapter 23). Although many stories have been written about the plague of aquatic invasive species, none with the thoroughness and eloquence of this book. Anyone interested in our natural resources should read this book. The St. Lawrence Seaway is just a subplot, as the real story is about the harm that resulted from the inaction of various federal agencies, Coast Guard and EPA particularly, to adequately protect the Great Lakes from invaders in the ballast tanks of transoceanic freighters. Jeff Alexander tells a great, and compelling story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A far reaching and scholarly look at the St. Lawrence Seaway, September 13, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pandora's Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway (Hardcover)

A gem of engineering genius, the St. Lawrence Seaway was not easily built, not by any stretch of the imagination. "Pandora's Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Seaway" tells the story of the canal's creation and the road leading up to its historic opening. A story of trade, politics, and science, "Pandora's Locks" discusses the canal from many perspectives, with special care to the environmental approach. "Pandora's Locks" is a far reaching and scholarly look at the St. Lawrence Seaway.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Plea from a Lover of the Lakes, August 17, 2009

By 

Robert K. Warski (Elgin, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pandora's Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway (Hardcover)

Pandora's Locks is an amazing account of the invasion of the Great Lakes by foreign species since the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, of the devastating effects of this invasion, and of the ineptitude of the U.S. and Canadian governments in dealing with the situation. The author conveys a strong love for the Great Lakes and a righteous indignation at the neglect of the authorities' who had the power to protect the Lakes but didn't. This reviewer, himself a lover of the Great Lakes who enjoys the magnificence of Lake Michigan at his summer home on Beaver Island, strongly recommends this book to anyone who cares about the Great Lakes, one of North America's greatest treasures.