Description: A comprehensive history of the development of Houston, examining the factors that have facilitated unprecedented growth--and the environmental cost of that development. Examines the steps Houston has taken to overcome laissez-faire politics, indiscriminate expansion, and infrastructural overload. An analysis of the environmental consequences of large-scale energy production and unchecked growth.
Review Quotes: An invaluable environmental history of Houston, this book demonstrates the causes and consequences of energy-driven growth. As the city tripled in size after 1960, its freeways, deforesting sprawl, air-conditioning, and problems of air and water pollution led to activism and conflicts, illuminated in twelve essays. A must for anyone interested in the dynamic relationship between politics, the city, and its changing landscape.-- "David E. Nye, University of Southern Denmark, recipient of the 2005 Leonardo da Vinci Medal"