Description
Book SynopsisProfiles the attitudes, understandings, and motivations of grassroots activists who rose to fight the use of phenoxy herbicides, or Agent Orange chemicals as they are commonly known, in various aspects of American life during the post-WWII era.
Trade Review“
The Defoliation of America is an extraordinary achievement. Amy Hay argues that protesters fought the use of chemical herbicides in the US and internationally (especially during the Vietnam War). Hay reveals how a diverse group of advocates challenged government, military, and corporate claims that Agent Orange herbicides were safe. More than any other study,
The Defoliation of America demonstrates the extent of the widespread use of Agent Orange herbicides in America that coincided with extensive deployment during the Vietnam War and the impassioned protests these actions inspired.”- Frederick Rowe Davis, author of
Banned: A History of Pesticides and the Science of Toxicology;
“
The Defoliation of America is a wide-ranging, detailed study of arguably the most important anti-toxics movement in modern American history- the protests against the use of ‘Agent Orange.’ Displaying excellent research, with a focused empathy on the stories of the victims and the activists, this book makes significant contributions to the field of American environmental and anti-toxics activism.”- Robert Gioielli, author of
Environmental Activism and the Urban Crisis: Baltimore, St. Louis, Chicago;
“A superb telling of the human side of the Agent Orange story, expertly integrating the story of women-led protests of the chemical’s hazardous effects in the US with the history of war in Southeast Asia, racial inequality, and the politicization of science.”- Ellen Griffith Spears, author of
Rethinking the American Environmental Movement post-1945;
“
The Defoliation of America offers a truly new history of chemicals, specifically phenoxy herbicides. It makes a valuable contribution to multiple fields and shows us that grave concern toward chemicals resided as strongly in neighborhoods, churches, and the radio airwaves, as it did in the pages of Silent Spring or demonstrations of Earth Day.”- David D. Vail, author of
Chemical Lands: Pesticides, Aerial Spraying, and Health in North America's Grasslands since 1945.
