The Tarball Chronicles A Journey Beyond the Oiled Pelican and Into the Heart of the Gulf Oil Spill

“For those interested in putting the Gulf crisis in perspective, there can be no better guide than this funny, often uncertain, frank, opinionated, always curious, informed and awestruck, accounting of how we’ve gone wrong and could go right, a full-strength antidote to the Kryptonite of corporate greed and human ignorance.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution Traveling the shores of the Gulf from east to west with oceanographers, subsistence fisherman, seafood distributors, and other long-time Gulf residents, acclaimed author and environmental advocate David Gessner offers a lively, arresting account of the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. With The Tarball Chronicles Gessner tells a story that extends beyond the archetypal oil-soaked pelican, beyond politics, beyond BP, and beyond other oil spill books in the market. Instead, heart on his sleeve and beer in hand, he explores the ecosystem of the Gulf as a complicated whole and focuses on the people whose lives and livelihoods have been jeopardized by the spill. With his signature combination of intellect, passion, and humor, Gessner asks how much we are willing to sacrifice for the conveniences of modern life.

David Gessner is the author of seven books, including My Green Manifesto (Milkweed Editions, 2011), Soaring with Fidel (Beacon Press, 2008), Sick of Nature (Dartmouth Press, 2005), The Prophet of Dry Hill (Beacon Press, 2005), and Return of the Osprey (Ballantine Books, 2002), which was chosen by the Boston Globe as one of the top ten nonfiction books of the year. The winner of a Pushcart Prize as well as the John Burroughs Award for Best Natural History Essay, his work has also appeared in many magazines and journals including the New York Times Magazine, the Boston Globe, Outside, the Georgia Review, the Harvard Review, and Orion. He has taught environmental writing at Harvard, and is currently an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where he edits the national literary journal, Ecotone.