Boom, Bust, Boom: A Story about Copper, the Metal That Runs the World

This informative and thought-provoking account of civilization’s complete dependence on copper, and what extracting it from the earth really means for people, nature, and the global economy is “the best sort of journalism: beautifully written, rich in detail, and impossible to ignore” (Sebastian Junger).

Copper is a miraculous and contradictory metal, essential to nearly every human enterprise. For most of recorded history, this remarkably pliable and sturdy substance has proven invaluable: ...