Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781982173357)

*Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and Literary Hub!* A Finalist for the 2022 NBCC Awards in Nonfiction, the 2023 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award, and the NEIBA 2023 New England Book Award*

From Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx, this riveting deep dive into the history of our wetlands and what their systematic destruction means for the planet "is both an enchanting work of nature writing and a rousing call to action" (Esquire).

"I learned something new--and found something amazing--on every page." --Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land

A lifelong acolyte of the natural world, Annie Proulx brings her witness and research to the subject of wetlands and the vitally important role they play in preserving the environment--by storing the carbon emissions that accelerate climate change. Fens, bogs, swamps, and marine estuaries are crucial to the earth's survival, and in four illuminating parts, Proulx documents their systemic destruction in pursuit of profit.

In a vivid and revelatory journey through history, Proulx describes the fens of 16th-century England, Canada's Hudson Bay lowlands, Russia's Great Vasyugan Mire, and America's Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. She introduces the early explorers who launched the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and writes of the diseases spawned in the wetlands--the Ague, malaria, Marsh Fever.

A sobering look at the degradation of wetlands over centuries and the serious ecological consequences, this is "an unforgettable and unflinching tour of past and present, fixed on a subject that could not be more important" (Bill McKibben).

"A stark but beautifully written Silent Spring-style warning from one of our greatest novelists." --The Christian Science Monitor

Author: Annie Proulx
ISBN-10: 1982173351
ISBN-13: 9781982173357
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Language: English
Published: 09/27/2022
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.80w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 01/01/2022 pg. 18
Library Journal 07/01/2022 pg. 82
Publishers Weekly 07/18/2022
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2022
Booklist 09/15/2022 pg. 7
Shelf Awareness 09/30/2022
BookPage 10/01/2022