The Death and Life of the Great Lakes

by Dan Egan

Overview

New York Times Bestseller
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Award

"Nimbly splices together history, science, reporting and personal experiences into a taut and cautiously hopeful narrative.… Egan’s book is bursting with life (and yes, death)." —Robert Moor, New York Times Book Review

The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393355550
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/10/2018
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	70,592
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Dan Egan is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. A two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, he lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with his wife and children.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Part 1 The Front Door

Chapter 1 Carving a Fourth Seacoast: Dreams of a Seaway 3

Chapter 2 Three Fish: The Story of Lake Trout, Sea Lampreys and Alewives 36

Chapter 3 The World's Great Fishing Hole: The Introduction of Coho and Chinook Salmon 75

Chapter 4 Noxious Cargo: The Invasion of Zebra and Quagga Mussels 108

Part 2 The Back Door

Chapter 5 Continental Undivide: Asian Carp and Chicago's Backwards River 151

Chapter 6 Conquering a Continent: The Mussel Infestation of the West 187

Chapter 7 North America's "Dead" Sea: Toxic Algae and the Threat to Toledo's Water Supply 212

Part 3 The Future

Chapter 8 Plugging the Drain: The Never-Ending Threat to Siphon away Great Lakes Water 247

Chapter 9 A Shaky Balancing Act: Climate Change and the Fall and Rise of the Lakes 277

Chapter 10 A Great Lake Revival: Charting a Course Toward Integrity. Stability and Balance 300

Acknowledgments 323

Notes 325

Selected Bibliography 345

Illustration Credits 349

Index 351

Editorial Reviews

"Egan’s knowledge, both deep and wide, comes through on every page, and his clear writing turns what could be confusing or tedious material into a riveting story."

Columbus Dispatch - Margaret Quamme

"Dan Egan has done more than any other journalist in America to chronicle the decline of this once-great ecosystem."

Judges’ citation

"A compelling chronicle of the many, many (many) man-caused hazards that have threatened the largest source of accessible freshwater in the world."

Cleveland Plain Dealer - Susan Glaser

"Important.… Egan’s book serves as a reminder that the ecological universe we inhabit is vastly connected and cannot be easily mended by humility and good intentions."

Boston Review - Meghan O’Gieblyn

"A literary clarion call.… Egan’s narrative reflects a nuanced understanding of history and science, which is matched by his keen perceptions about public policy."

National Book Review

"Brings the Great Lakes’ decline—and moments of rebirth—to life.… Firsthand tales from the people directly involved in the Great Lakes’ unfolding ecological drama drive Egan’s brisk narrative forward."

Nature Conservancy magazine - Danielle S. Furlich

"A marvelous work of nonfiction, which tells the story of humanity’s interference with the natural workings of the world’s largest unfrozen freshwater system."

Crain’s Chicago Business - Anne Moore

…deeply researched and sharply written…In telling what might otherwise be a grim tale, Egan…nimbly splices together history, science, reporting and personal experiences into a taut and cautiously hopeful narrative. The book's title is a nod to Jane Jacobs, but its ideological and stylistic forebear is plainly Silent Spring, that ur-classic of red-flag-raising eco-journalism. Like Rachel Carson, Egan is careful to cloak his argument in terms policy makers understand, focusing more on financial damage and human health than any intrinsic, but incalculable, deep ecological value…One advantage Egan's book has over Carson's is its approachable style. As a narrator he tends to glide high above the action, but he frequently swoops down to describe his subjects at eye level, in order to show how massive structural problems affect individual lives…Egan's book is bursting with life (and, yes, death).

The New York Times Book Review - Robert Moor

01/02/2017
Egan, a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, effectively calls attention to the inherent fragility of the Great Lakes in this thought-provoking investigation, providing a modern history of the lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—and the problems that have plagued them. He takes readers “beneath the lakes’ shimmering surface and illuminates an ongoing and unparalleled ecological unraveling.” Egan starts the discussion by examining the 1950s construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a system of locks, canals, and channels connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Supporters had hoped landlocked cities such as Chicago and Cleveland would in time become global commercial ports rivaling New York City and Tokyo. Subsequent chapters deal with some of the project’s unintended consequences. Non-native species began showing up in the Great Lakes. Zebra mussels, once found primarily in the Caspian and Black Sea basins, hitchhiked their way across the Atlantic in the ballast tanks of freighters. Able to fuse themselves to hard surfaces and grow “in wickedly sharp clusters,” zebra mussels can clog pipes, cause significant damage to boats, and “suck the plankton—the life—out of the waters they invade.” Egan highlights a range of issues that have affected these crucial waterways for decades. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Engaging…[and] impeccably researched…Told like a great story rather than an academic lecture."

Nature - Anna M. Michalak

"Dan Egan has done more than any other journalist in America to chronicle the decline of this once-great ecosystem, to alert the public to new threats, and to force governments to take remedial action."

Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment

"Living up to . . . early acclaim, [The Death and Life of the Great Lakes] is easy to read, offering well-paced, intellectually stimulating arguments, bolstered by well-researched and captivating narratives."

Science - Lekelia Danielle Jenkins

"Fascinating and brilliant."

Los Angeles Review of Books - Vicky Albritton and Fredrik Albritton Jonsson

"An accessible, even gripping narrative about the massive, unforeseen costs of our interventions in the natural world. . . . The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is an engaging, vitally important work of science journalism."

The Globe and Mail - Eva Holland

"Dan Egan’s deeply researched and sharply written The Death and Life of The Great Lakes…nimbly splices together history, science, reporting and personal experiences into a taut and cautiously hopeful narrative…Egan’s book is bursting with life (and yes, death)."

Robert Moor

"The Death and Life of the Great Lakes reads like a mystery. . . . Egan knows how to pare a story to its most interesting elements. Having finished the book, I immediately started over."

Louise Erdrich

"This book feels urgent to policymakers and laypersons alike."

Literary Hub - Kerri Arsenault

★ 12/01/2016
Milwaukee Sentinel Journal's Egan, "beat reporter" on the Great Lakes since 2003, examines the ecological and economic havoc caused by invasive species and also considers problems such as fluctuating lake levels and future threats including water diversion schemes. He shows how big engineering, canal building in particular, opened the lakes to shipping but also swung open the "front" (e.g., the Saint Lawrence Seaway) and "back" (e.g., Chicago Canal system) doors to nonindigenous aquatic species. Some critters hitchhiked in the ballast tanks of ships; others were carried in by the currents or swam. Swamp draining and river dredging have played their own pernicious parts in "unstitching a delicate ecological web more than 10,000 years in the making." Egan offers some bold solutions to slow the damage (e.g., develop better ballast disinfection systems, close the Saint Lawrence Seaway to ocean freighters, shut the Chicago Canal) but admits that obstacles such as the shipping lobby and foot-dragging politicians are formidable. Egan skillfully mixes science, history, and reportage to craft a compelling story. If, as he asserts, "the biggest threat to the Great Lakes right now is our own ignorance," then this book stands as important, timely mitigation. VERDICT This outstanding addition to science collections will appeal to general readers.—Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.

Library Journal

A prize-winning reporter for the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL has written a readable, fair-minded account of the collapse and transformation of the Great Lakes ecosystem from the opening of the Erie Canal through the present. Jason Culp narrates this epic tale of human arrogance, unintended consequences, and environmental degradation, told through personal interviews, memorable stories, and solid descriptions of science. Culp's pace his consistent, and his narration exceptionally clear. His slightly nasal tenor complements Egan’s avuncular style, and he evidences no difficulty with scientific vocabulary. While the author offers as much optimism as anyone can, the story of the Great Lakes is a cautionary tale of importance far from their shores. A great audiobook for anyone interested in environmental issues anywhere. F.C. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2017 - AudioFile

A prize-winning reporter for the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL has written a readable, fair-minded account of the collapse and transformation of the Great Lakes ecosystem from the opening of the Erie Canal through the present. Jason Culp narrates this epic tale of human arrogance, unintended consequences, and environmental degradation, told through personal interviews, memorable stories, and solid descriptions of science. Culp's pace his consistent, and his narration exceptionally clear. His slightly nasal tenor complements Egan’s avuncular style, and he evidences no difficulty with scientific vocabulary. While the author offers as much optimism as anyone can, the story of the Great Lakes is a cautionary tale of importance far from their shores. A great audiobook for anyone interested in environmental issues anywhere. F.C. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2017 - AudioFile

★ 2017-01-04
An alarming account of the "slow-motion catastrophe" facing the world's largest freshwater system.Based on 13 years of reporting for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this exhaustively detailed examination of the Great Lakes reveals the extent to which this 94,000-square-mile natural resource has been exploited for two centuries. The main culprits have been "over-fishing, over-polluting, and over-prioritizing navigation," writes Egan, winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award. Combining scientific details, the stories of researchers investigating ecological crises, and interviews with people who live and work along the lakes, the author crafts an absorbing narrative of science and human folly. The St. Lawrence Seaway, a system of locks, canals, and channels leading to the Atlantic Ocean, which allows "noxious species" from foreign ports to enter the lakes through ballast water dumped by freighters, has been a central player. Biologically contaminated ballast water is "the worst kind of pollution," writes Egan. "It breeds." As a result, mussels and other invasive species have been devastating the ecosystem and traveling across the country to wreak harm in the West. At the same time, farm-fertilizer runoff has helped create "massive seasonal toxic algae blooms that are turning [Lake] Erie's water into something that seems impossible for a sea of its size: poison." The blooms contain "the seeds of a natural and public health disaster." While lengthy and often highly technical, Egan's sections on frustrating attempts to engineer the lakes by introducing predator fish species underscore the complexity of the challenge. The author also covers the threats posed by climate change and attempts by outsiders to divert lake waters for profit. He notes that the political will is lacking to reduce farm runoffs. The lakes could "heal on their own," if protected from new invasions and if the fish and mussels already present "find a new ecological balance." Not light reading but essential for policymakers—and highly recommended for the 40 million people who rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water.

Kirkus Reviews