Description:
In the summer of 2014, a strange thing happened to one of the largest freshwater bodies on the planet: Lake Erie's western shore turned bright green with toxic algae that could have killed 400,000 Ohioans. Stranger still, it was kind of Patrick Wensink's fault. Okay, partially his fault, but also to blame was industrial corn farming, greenhouse gasses, the Worst Road In America, his attraction to toxic relationships, Richard Nixon, Charles Dickens, cyanobacteria, high school bullies, and, most importantly, the untold history of the Great Black Swamp: a large swatch of what is now Ohio and Indiana that was once a dangerous, malaria-ridden wetland.
Toxic green algae has become a global problem. While the scientific community scrambles to find a solution, Wensink discovers that the answer might be hiding in his former home, a million acres of table-flat farmland so desolate that even other Ohioans look down upon it.
Great Black Swamp: Toxic Algae, Toxic Relationships, and the Most Interesting Place in America that Nobody's Ever Heard Of mixes ecological reporting, Midwestern history, and memoir. As Wensink travels through Northwest Ohio, he tells us about his childhood there, his failing marriage, American history, Lake Erie, and the hopeful ecological interventions scientists are performing in the former Great Black Swamp.
Review Quotes:
With humor and pathos, Wensink weaves his own life into this twisty environmental history, from his farmer ancestors to the dissolution of his marriage. Funny, fascinating, and sneakily profound, this delights. -- Publishers Weekly
"Readers can be assured they won't be bogged down by overly detailed timelines or scholarly analysis, and yet, they will learn plenty about the complex causes and multipronged solutions related to harmful algal blooms...A surprisingly entertaining read about an environmental disaster."--Kirkus Reviews
"This book combining memoir with ecological reportage will be a useful addition for libraries with extensive ecological collections and for those in northeast Ohio or the Great Lakes region." -- Library Journal
"A thrilling eco-mystery Jeff VanderMeer might have imagined, Great Black Swamp is also an aching, charming, genuinely funny memoir about failure and self-acceptance. Most surprising is the tangible, hard-earned hope it offers about our environment and ourselves. I loved every page." --James Tate Hill, author of Blind Man's Bluff
"Patrick Wensink grew up in a distant land ravaged by humankind, and the name of this place is Ohio. Armed only with science and comedy, Wensink takes us there and makes us love it as much as he does." --Harrison Scott Key, Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and Author of How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told
"Pull on your waders and let Patrick Wensink guide you through this surprisingly raucous history of the mysterious wetlands and modest farms of his native northwest Ohio on his quest to understand the roles they played in shaping two catastrophes--Lake Erie's deadly, toxic algae bloom and the end of his marriage. Insightful, vulnerable, and deadpan hilarious, The Great Black Swamp will have you believing in the power and necessity of rewilding--land, water, and self." --Erin Keane, Salon.com chief content officer and author of Runaway: Notes on the Myths That Made Me
"This book is partly about a weird toxic algae crisis, but it's also about so much more: politics, fame, money, love, loss, John Denver's mean streak, and America at large. Oh, and it's hilarious." --AJ Jacobs, NYT Bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically