The Late, Great Lakes: An Environmental History

by William Ashworth

Overview

The Late, Great Lakes is a powerful indictment of man's carelessness, ignorance, and apathy toward the Great Lakes.

The Late, Great Lakes is a powerful indictment of man's carelessness, ignorance, and apathy toward the Great Lakes. With the longest continuous coastline in the United States, they hold one-fifth of the world's freshwater supply. Author William Ashworth presents a compelling history of the Great Lakes, from their formation in the Ice Age, to their "discovery" by Samuel de Champlian in 1615, and, finally, to their impending death in our time. Ashworth systematically deals with the wild life that once flourished in the region—beaver, salmon, whitefish, and trout—and describes the threatening elements which have displaced them—the predatory sea lamprey, the alewives, toxic waste, and volatile solids.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814318874
Publisher:	Wayne State University Press
Publication date:	05/01/1987
Series:	Great Lakes Books Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

William Ashworth, one of our leading writers on environmental subjects, is the author of several books on water-resource politics and the American water crisis, including Nor Any Drop to Drink (1982). Mr. Ashworth lives in Ashland, Oregon, and in 1982 received the first annual Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Oregon chapter of the Sierra Club.

Editorial Reviews

Ashworth has found a blend of contemporary newswriting, scholarly research, and personal observation that cunningly injects daunting quantities of information into an inviting prose style.

The Los Angeles Times

Ashworth has found a blend of contemporary newswriting, scholarly research, and personal observation that cunningly injects daunting quantities of information into an inviting prose style.--The Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

Ashworth has found a blend of contemporary newswriting, scholarly research, and personal observation that cunningly injects daunting quantities of information into an inviting prose style.

The Los Angeles Times

The Great Lakes have always had an economy based on resource extraction, notes Ashworth, author of Nor Any Drop to Drink. First it was furs, followed by lumbering, minerals and heavy industry. Since the beginning of settlement the lakes have been polluted by sewage, garbage and runoff wastes; more recently, ship traffic and canals have played havoc with native fish and shoreline stability. Two geographic features compound pollution problems: the lakes' vast size and poor development of the region's drainage system. As Ashworth explores the North Coast, our longest shoreline, he lucidly explains its fragility in terms of its geologic youth and traces the coast's history from early exploration to modern times. He discusses microcontamination from dumps, beach erosion, superships, acid rain, puts forth a proposal for diverting lake water to the Great Plains. Ashworth makes a powerful statement that should be required reading for anyone interested in the environment. (May 15)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This compact natural history of the Great Lakes region is really a passion ate plea for an awakening to the crises faced by the lakes and surrounding land. Geologically recent, the Great Lakes were formed by the huge glaciers that pushed south through Canada, pe riodically, during the Pleistocene ep och. Ashworth tells the lakes' story with clarity and urgency. He details the destruction of the naturalness of the re gion, from the clear cutting of the for ests to the loss of most of the fish. To day the threat is greater than ever, from such things as industrial toxins, acid rain, and proposed diversion of water to the arid Southwest. Ashworth is puz zled by the apparent apathy of the peo ple living around the water, as if it will always be there. From his deeply felt account, all can see the folly of such thinking. Highly recommended. Ran dy Dykhuis, Grace A. Dow Memorial Lib., Midland, Mich.

Library Journal