Mass Destruction - by Timothy J Lecain (Hardcover)

About the Book

The place: The steep mountains outside Salt Lake City. The time: The first decade of the twentieth century. The man: Daniel Jackling, a young metallurgical engineer. The goal: A bold new technology that could provide billions of pounds of cheap copper for a rapidly electrifying America. The result: Bingham's enormous "Glory Hole," the first large-scale open-pit copper mine, an enormous chasm in the earth and one of the largest humanmade artifacts on the planet. Mass Destruction is the compelling story of Jackling and the development of open-pit hard rock mining, its role in the wiring of an electrified America, as well its devastating environmental consequences.

Book Synopsis

The place: The steep mountains outside Salt Lake City. The time: The first decade of the twentieth century. The man: Daniel Jackling, a young metallurgical engineer. The goal: A bold new technology that could provide billions of pounds of cheap copper for a rapidly electrifying America. The result: Bingham's enormous "Glory Hole," the first large-scale open-pit copper mine, an enormous chasm in the earth and one of the largest humanmade artifacts on the planet. Mass Destruction is the compelling story of Jackling and the development of open-pit hard rock mining, its role in the wiring of an electrified America, as well its devastating environmental consequences.

Mass destruction mining soon spread around the nation and the globe, providing raw materials essential to the mass production and mass consumption that increasingly defined the emerging "American way of life." At the dawn of the last century, Jackling's open pit replaced immense but constricted underground mines that probed nearly a mile beneath the earth, to become the ultimate symbol of the modern faith that science and technology could overcome all natural limits. A new culture of mass destruction emerged that promised nearly infinite supplies not only of copper, but also of coal, timber, fish, and other natural resources.

But, what were the consequences? Timothy J. LeCain deftly analyzes how open-pit mining continues to affect the environment in its ongoing devastation of nature and commodification of the physical world. The nation's largest toxic Superfund site would be one effect, as well as other types of environmental dead zones around the globe. Yet today, as the world's population races toward American levels of resource consumption, truly viable alternatives to the technology of mass destruction have not yet emerged.

Review Quotes

"Mass Destruction is a thoroughly researched, elegantly reasoned study by one well-qualified to do so. LeCain has provided a well-integrated look at the environmental cost of America's burgeoning consumerism, with specific emphasis on copper."-- "Utah Historical Quarterly" (1/1/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"A most entertaining and informative book."-- "Earth Justice " (9/1/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"In examining the history of one mining industry, LeCain funnels a great deal of American history and culture into his narrative, resulting in a work that should catch a broad audience, from Old West history buffs to environmentalists."-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)" (7/13/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"LeCain writes skillfully and eloquently about the history, the engineering challenges, the successes of production and resulting consumption, and the environmental consequences of open-pit copper mining, mainly in the first half of the 20th century. With clarity and reason, LeCain analyzes this undeniable and inextricable connection between the technology of producing nature's raw materials and human and environmental imperatives. This book provokes serious second thoughts about the future of the exploitation of nature's bounty, and it should appeal to a wide audience, especially modern resource companies and conservationists. Highly recommended."-- "Choice" (12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"The colossal open-pit mines of the past century have left behind some of the largest artifacts on the face of the earth. Timothy LeCain's engaging history of this mega-industrial enterprise is remarkable for its insight, clarity, and wisdom. Readers interested in the contours of our technological and environmental past--and the inextricable connections between the natural and artificial--will find Mass Destruction a treasure trove of reasoning and enlightenment."--Jeffrey K. Stine "author of America's Forested Wetlands: From Wasteland to Valued Resource" (3/4/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"This is an eloquent and searing portrait of the environmental cost of the coins in our pockets and wires in our walls. As Timothy LeCain argues in this hard-hitting book, the quest for efficiency that gave us mass production and mass consumption also brought us mass destruction of the environment."--Edmund Russell "University of Virginia" (3/16/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"Timothy LeCain analyzes the environmental impact of open pit mining, including its ongoing devastation of nature. Both a historical chronology of the open pit mining industry in the western U.S. and a thoughtful essay on the economic drivers behind it, LeCain provides a compelling story."-- "Wildlife Activist" (12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"Written in a clear, straightforward style, Mass Destruction focuses our attention on the mining of copper--an industry both essential to the electrical age and ruinous to theenvironment. In so doing, LeCain shows the interconnections between the natural world of raw materials and the human world of technologies and commodities."--Andrew Isenberg "author of Mining California: An Ecological History" (8/14/2008 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Timothy J. LeCain is an assistant professor in the department of history at Montana State University and a historical consultant and expert witness in environmental litigation for the United States Department of Justice.