Praised for its ability to kill insects effectively and cheaply and
reviled as an ecological hazard, DDT continues to engender passion
across the political spectrum as one of the world's most
controversial chemical pesticides. In
DDT and the American
Century, David Kinkela chronicles the use of DDT around the
world from 1941 to the present with a particular focus on the
United States, which has played a critical role in encouraging the
global use of the pesticide. Kinkela's study offers a unique
approach to understanding both this contentious chemical and modern
environmentalism in an international context.