Description: Fresh Kills--a monumental 2,200-acre structure on Staten Island--was once the world's largest landfill. Martin V. Melosi provides a comprehensive chronicle of Fresh Kills that offers new insights into the growth and development of New York City and the relationship among consumption, waste, and disposal.
Review Quotes: Melosi tells the story of the dump that ate New York with panache, rescuing this erstwhile salt marsh from the late-night comedians and, in the process, telling us something deeply important and troubling about postwar American capitalism.--Ted Steinberg, author of Gotham Unbound: The Ecological History of Greater New York