New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Award "Nimbly splices together history, science, reporting and personal experiences into a taut and cautiously hopeful narrative.… Egan’s book is bursting with life (and yes, death)." —Robert Moor, New York Times Book Review The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The St. Lawrence Seaway, which was created to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the five inland seas, did not conquer nature, but instead unleashed it in the form of an ecological catastrophe. #2 The Mediterranean Sea was dry for hundreds of thousands of years, but around 5. 3 million years ago, it was flooded by the Atlantic Ocean. The Black Sea was isolated from the Mediterranean Sea around 7,600 years ago. #3 The Great Lakes were once isolated from the Atlantic Ocean, but erosion has been taking place at Niagara Falls for thousands of years. It is expected that the falls will disappear in about 50,000 years, which is geologically speaking, pretty soon. #4 The St. Lawrence River, which flows into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, is a map-taunting example of how the tendril of blue that stretches out from Lake Ontario turns viciously narrow and impenetrable to upstream navigation just upstream of Montreal.

SuperSummary, a modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, offers high-quality study guides for challenging works of literature. This 86-page guide for "The Death and Life of the Great Lakes" by Dan Egan includes detailed chapter summaries and analysis covering 10 chapters, as well as several more in-depth sections of expert-written literary analysis. Featured content includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay topics, and key themes like Balancing Competing Interests in the Great Lakes and Conquering Nature Versus Adapting to It.

The author of Michigan's Haunted Lighthouses shares tales of disaster and misfortune on the Great Lakes. Losing one's life while tending to a Great Lakes lighthouse sadly wasn't such an unusual occurrence. Death by murder, suicide or other tragic causes--while rare--were not unheard of. Two keepers on Lake Superior's Grand Island disappeared one early summer day in 1908, their decomposed remains found weeks later. A newly hired and some say depressed keeper on Pilot Island in Wisconsin's Door County slit his own throat after a consultation with a local butcher about the location of the jugular vein. A smallpox outbreak in the late 1890s led to the tragic death of a lighthouse hired hand on South Bass Island in Lake Erie. Join author Dianna Stampfler as she uncovers the facts (and debunks some fiction) behind some of the Great Lakes' darkest lighthouse tales.

The Late, Great Lakes is a powerful indictment of man's carelessness, ignorance, and apathy toward the Great Lakes. With the longest continuous coastline in the United States, they hold one-fifth of the world's freshwater supply. Author William Ashworth presents a compelling history of the Great Lakes, from their formation in the Ice Age, to their "discovery" by Samuel de Champlian in 1615, and, finally, to their impending death in our time. Ashworth systematically deals with the wild life that once flourished in the region-beaver, salmon, whitefish, and trout-and describes the threatening elements which have displaced them-the predatory sea lamprey, the alewives, toxic waste, and volatile solids.

A dramatic account of three centuries of people and ships that sailed the Great Lakes A popular history of navigation on the Great Lakes and life on their shores, The Long Ships Passing brings us aboard the crafts that have plowed the waves of the treacherous "five sisters" carrying the grain, lumber, and minerals that fed and built the cities of America. Walter Havighurst paints vivid pictures of life--and death--on the lakes, mysterious accounts of wooden ships and iron men that sank to freshwater graves, especially along the immigrant route where the wrecks lie thick. In rich and marvelous detail, this classic history recounts the saga of an inland marine empire.

A stunning picture book about the five largest lakes in North America - how they formed, the importance of their abundant freshwater, and how they've become a national treasure - in the latest book from the author of Caldecott Honor book The Noisy Paint Box. The Great Lakes—Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior—are five blue jewels set a bit off center in a belt across North America’s middle. Bordered by eight states and part of Canada, the Lakes hold 21% of the world's fresh water. How did these incredible lakes get there? And what can we do to preserve such a treasure? Follow along as a drop of water in this enormous system and uncover its dramatic journey from lake to rive to lake, over Niagara Falls to lake and river again, and finally into the Atlantic Ocean.