The Chemical Age: How Chemists Fought Famine and Disease, Killed Millions, and Changed Our Relationship with the Earth

A dynamic and sweeping history that exposes how humankind’s affinity for pesticides made the modern world possible—while also threatening its essential fabric.

For thousands of years, we’ve found ways to scorch, scour, and sterilize our surroundings to make them safer. Sometimes these methods are wonderfully effective. Often, however, they come with catastrophic consequences—consequences that aren’t typically understood for generations.

The Chemical Age tells the captivating story of the sc...