InA Climate of Crisis, he offers a provocative history of the U.S. environmental movement - from nuclear fears to antipollution protests to ozone and carbon politics - showing that great progress has been made in air and water quality, health, living standards, and life expectancy, despite exaggeration and fear-mongering from all sides that have sometimes obscured it.

‘Crisis’ is almost an axiom in today’s environmental dialogues, evoking everything from endangered species to climate change. While historian Patrick Allitt acknowledges the need for concern, he contends that this mood of anxiety has sometimes eclipsed the facts. In A Climate of Crisis, he offers a provocative history of the U.S. environmental movement - from nuclear fears to antipollution protests to ozone and carbon politics - showing that great progress has been made in air and water quality, health, living standards, and life expectancy, despite exaggeration and fear-mongering from all sides that have sometimes obscured it. Ambitious yet concise, A Climate of Crisis challenges our basic assumptions about the environment, no matter what our politics - reminding us that all-too-present answers are sometimes found in questioning the past.
‘In this sweeping study, Patrick Allitt covers every conceivable major character and event in the modern 'age of environmentalism’ … In linking past to present, Allitt offers caution about what might unfold in the days to come.‘ Martin V. Melosi, author of The Sanitary City and Precious Commodity
'In recounting partisan battles, Mr. Allitt’s objectivity is refreshing.’ The Wall Street Journal