The Bookshelf: June 1, 2016

Trib+Water is joining with respected books authority Kirkus Reviews to bring you select reviews of books of note in the field of water studies. For more book reviews and recommendations, visit Kirkus.com.

FRACKOPOLY: The Battle for the Future of Energy and the Environment 

by Wenonah Hauter

Older readers grew up learning that America was running out of fossil fuel. Then, a decade ago, it wasn’t. Now there’s a glut, and gasoline is cheap. Most readers are aware of one of the primary reasons: fracking, a process in which sand, chemicals, and water are forced under pressure into rock formations deep underground, extracting vastly more oil and natural gas than traditional drilling. Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, an environmental watchdog organization, delivers a passionate history and critique of the energy industry, from Standard Oil to Enron, before concentrating on recent decades. It’s a dismal fact that where oil and gas dominate economies (Russia, the Middle East), opposition barely exists. But it thrives elsewhere. France has banned fracking, but it has almost no petroleum reserves. America mirrors this disparity. There is no question where Hauter’s sympathies lie, and her grim litany of greed, corruption, and environmental damage may stir activists to action but deeply discourage general readers.

For the full review, visit kirkus.com.