From the Publisher
“Never doubt that rural Americans truly love the land they inhabit—and as Colin Jerolmack makes clear in this fascinating account, that might be the basis for some productive, if sometimes awkward, environmentalism in the crucial years ahead.”—Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature"A true tour de force, Up to Heaven and Down to Hell takes community ethnography to a whole new level. Embedding himself in a Pennsylvania town turned upside down by fracking, Colin Jerolmack spends time with people on all sides of the issue, giving everyone an honest hearing. The result is a deeply insightful on-the-ground account that reveals the climate crisis to be a crisis of community."—Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City"Honest, empathetic, and rich in insight, Up to Heaven and Down to Hell explores what happens when Americans of all political stripes are forced by circumstance to reconsider cherished beliefs about their land, their neighbors, and their government. To thrive in the global commons, we all need to do the same kind of rethinking. Colin Jerolmack's fine book shows the way."—Dan Fagin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation"Engaging, engrossing, and beautifully written."—Stephanie A. Malin, author of The Price of Nuclear Power: Uranium Communities and Environmental Justice"Jerolmack demonstrates why we can't fully understand the fracking controversy without considering how it complicates people's personal lives and their relations to the land, the law, and their neighbors. Rich in ethnographic detail and sparkling with insights, this book is destined to become a classic."—Robert Wuthnow, author of The Left Behind: Decline and Rage in Small-Town America"As different as we all are in situations, needs, and views, we hold the world in common. In this brilliant ethnography, Colin Jerolmack vividly highlights this basic environmental conundrum with his compelling account of the local conflicts over fracking in the countryside around Williamsport, Pennsylvania."—Michael Mayerfeld Bell, author of City of the Good: Nature, Religion, and the Ancient Search for What Is Right