Rising

By Elizabeth Rush,

Book cover of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore

Book description

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE IN GENERAL NONFICTION

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARD

A CHICAGO TRIBUNE TOP TEN BOOK OF 2018

A GUARDIAN, NPR's SCIENCE FRIDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, AND LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2018

Hailed as "deeply felt" (New York Times), "a revelation" (Pacific Standard), and "the…

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Why read it?

3 authors picked Rising as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I enjoyed the way Elizabeth Rush ventured out into some diverse and remote places where sea level rise has had a profound impact on long-term residents.

She writes eloquently about people and their lives and homes and avoids the climate change politics and debates. This is not a future problem—it’s real, it’s now, and it’s everywhere, as her conversations so clearly and soberly illustrate.

From Gary's list on the crisis at the shoreline.

This book was a significant inspiration for my own book, and remains one of the best and deepest accounts of how climate change is affecting the United States, in any medium.

Moving from the wetlands of the Eastern Seaboard to an eroding village in coastal Louisiana to a Pensacola neighborhood burdened by high flood insurance costs, Rush shows in intimate detail how sea-level rise alters individual lives and transforms small communities, displaying a patience and compassion that too few journalists have.

Rigorously reported and beautifully written, Rising takes readers to some of the places in the United States where sea level rise has been most dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and New York City to the Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and people living in these periled places, the options are limited: migrate elsewhere, or perish. Rush gives voice to the people in such heavily impacted communities; she weaves firsthand accounts from those experiencing such rapid change in their shoreline communities and profiles biologists, activities, and other members of vulnerable communities.

She exposes the many inequitable…

From Lauren's list on to inspire climate action.

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