The Control of Nature.

NY, Farrar Straus Giroux [1989]. ‘Second printing'. Hard Cover. Three essays: Atchafalaya; Cooling the Lava; Los Angeles against the Mountains. McPhee's interest ‘had first been sparked when he went into the Atchafalaya-- the largest river swamp in North America-- and had learned that virtually all of its waters were metered and rationed by a U. S. Army Corps of Engineers' project called Old River Control. …In Iceland, in 1973, an island split open without warning and huge volumes of lava began moving in the direction of… Iceland's premier fishing port… On the big island of Hawaii, one of the world's two most eruptive hot spots, people are not unmindful of the Icelandic example. …Some of the more expensive real estate in Los Angeles is up against mountains that are rising and disintegrating as rapidly as any in the world. …At extraordinary expense the city has built a hundred and fifty stadium-like basins in a daring effort to catch the debris. Taking us deep into these contested territories, McPhee details the strategies and tactics through which people attempt to control nature. Most striking is his vivid depiction of the main contestants: nature in complex and awesome guises, and those who would attempt to wrest control from her-- stubborn, often ingenious, and always arresting characters.' 272 p., illus.; dj; remainder mark; near fine. 27276