Winner of the John Burroughs Medal
A Boston Globe Best Book

"Safina again opens our eyes . . . The travels are epic, the animals awe-inspiring, and the realized message of the unity of life is important and uplifting."—Gus Speth, Dean of the Yale School for Environmental Studies

"With an almost masochistic resolve, [Scully] exposes himself to the theory and practice of exploitation as it is found among the exponents of commercial hunting and industrial farming . . . In the three arenas—food, sport, and experiment—Scully asks all the right questions . . . He does this in beautiful and witty prose."—Christopher Hitchens, The Atlantic Monthly

"Stoll possesses a comprehensive understanding of practice and idea, and he travels effortlessly between explanations of the fundamentals of soil science, fertility, tillage, and erosion and examination of the large historical forces of the nineteenth century, guiding the reader through the depression of 1818, the Mexican War, the pressures of agriculture in a growing market economy, the introduction of marl and guano into agricultural practice, the ecology of grasses, and the brute work required by a pre-industrial farm."—Jane Brox, The American Scholar

"By far the most useful, most informative single collection of Thoreau's best short prose we have had."—Bradley Dean, The Thoreau Society Bulletin

"Vaitheeswaran tackles . . . hard questions at the core of society's energy dilemmas with style, balance, and insight . . . [He] brings to these questions the respect for markets and market-like mechanisms of a writer for The Economist, the understanding of technology of an M.I.T.-trained engineer, and the sympathy for the plight of the world's poor of an individual born in India—all of which he happens to be . . . Vaitheeswaran's book is by far the most helpful, entertaining, up-to-date, and accessible treatment of the energy-economy-environment problematique available."—John P. Holdren, Scientific American

"A masterpiece. What a colossal piece of work! Weyler has captured the absolute peak experience of it all, the personal battles, the movement of history, and the global breakthroughs."—Robert Hunter, first president of Greenpeace