Tracing the history of environmental policy and politics from the seminal moments of 1978 at Love Canal to current disputes, this in-depth study offers a cross-border analysis of the modern environmental movement.

Thomas H. Fletcher is Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Geography at Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec and an adjunct professor at l'Universite de Sherbrooke.

Fletcher [offers] a first-rate study of the continuing complexities of hazardous waste management and facility siting. He very successfully uses comparative case study techniques involving subnational governments across a national boundary to show the universality of common problems. In turn, he outlines the beginning of a meaningful agenda to guide the next generation of thinking on this issue.

Charles L. Harper, Creighton University:

Fletcher's work is a good read for anyone interested in hazardous waste problems! His sophisticated and rigorous study examines the famous Love Canal and similar Canadian cases. It argues that in spite of problems, the 'environmental justice' approach is important--particularly if combined with an 'industrial ecology' framework for industrial production. Fletcher finds similarities and differences in U.S. and Canadian toxic waste policy-making, and, for me, the book reinforced the notion that environmental issues are inherently embedded in social relations.

Craig E. Colten, Louisiana State University:

Thomas Fletcher's work exposes the powerful influence of Love Canal on subsequent hazardous waste deliberations. He skillfully employs political and geographical theories to examine how the shock waves emanating from this one infamous site have reverberated through public opinion and policy that shape environmental justice on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border.