Harvey. Maria. Irma. Sandy. Katrina. We live in a time of unprecedented
hurricanes and catastrophic weather events, a time when it is
increasingly clear that climate change is neither imagined nor
distant―and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the
United States in irrevocable ways.
In this highly original work of lyrical reportage, Elizabeth Rush guides
readers through some of the places where this change has been most
dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and from New York City to the
Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places,
the options are stark: retreat or perish in place. Weaving firsthand
accounts from those facing this choice―a Staten Islander who lost her
father during Sandy, the remaining holdouts of a Native American
community on a drowning Isle de Jean Charles, a neighborhood in
Pensacola settled by escaped slaves hundreds of years ago―with profiles
of wildlife biologists, activists, and other members of the communities
both currently at risk and already displaced, Rising privileges the
voices of those usually kept at the margins.
At once polyphonic and precise, Rising is a shimmering meditation on
vulnerability and on vulnerable communities, both human and more than
human, and on how to let go of the places we love.
