Rent The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise

Synopsis

In this critical study of the ecology of the Florida everglades and the policies that have rendered it a virtual wasteland, Michael Grunwald takes a long view of how things went bad, beginning with the arrival of the Spanish, followed by the British--and then the Americans. Grunwald explains how huge projects of draining and digging, the arrival of railroads, and the advent of tourism changed the landscape forever. Key to this history is the curious role of the Corps of Army Engineers, which in Grunwald's view deserves much blame for the harm that has been done, and which, to no one's surprise, is today charged with the task of reviving the region. Grunwald offers an incisive description of Southern Florida culture and politics, which along with Washington, D.C. chicanery offers a bleak future for this threatened ecosystem.

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