The Control of Nature

Description

Author: McPhee, John  (1931-)

Publisher: Farrar Strauss Giroux (New York)

Pub Date: 1990 (First paperback printing)

Binding: Paperback

Condition:  Good.  Binding tight.  No marks, tears, bends or folds.  Very light edge and corner wear.  Appears unused.

Notes: Hubris, pure and simple, is McPhee’s idea here–humans think they can control nature.  As if.  Three essays, the longest on attempting to control the Mississippi River through channelization and levees to protect New Orleans and Baton Rouge;  an essay on volcanoes in Iceland and Hawaii and what humans are trying to do to control, or at least mitigate, their effects; and an essay on the geology of Los Angeles whose mountains are disintegrating, and the populations living beneath them.  You see them on the nightly news–home destroyed by landslide.  One of my favorite McPhee’s.  A hardcover edition of this title is also available.  See https://joethebookguy.com/shop/nature/the-control-of-nature/