The Tarball Chronicles

Winner of The Southern Environmental Law Center's Phillip D. Reed Memorial Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment Praise for The Tarball Chronicles "Anyone who wanted a first-hand look at the Gulf after the news cycle ended will find it here ... brilliant, thoughtful." -- Publishers Weekly (STARRED review) "If you read only one book about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill this year, it should be this one. If you plan not to read any books about it, make an exception for this blunt, funny, eye-opening quest to find the real stories behind the Gulf crisis." -- Shelf Awareness "Expressive and adventurous. A profoundly personal inquiry into the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe unique in its hands-on immediacy and far-ranging ruminations." --Donna Seaman, Booklist "Brilliant--the best and most original writing coming out of the Gulf." --Scott Dodd, OnEarth Magazine, Natural Resources Defense Council " The Tarball Chronicles [is] an eye-opening, jaw-dropping account ... Gessner crafts a powerfully informative but also immensely relatable narrative. Entertaining and rousing." -- Mother Nature Network "Gessner's account of his journey blazes out with a fiery, pugilistic style...His journey around the Gulf of Mexico offers us a powerful and sobering reminder that whether or not we feel the direct effects of the oil spill in our backyards, we are all implicated, all compromised, and--the most important for Gessner--all connected" --James Lang, America: The National Catholic Weekly "David Gessner is on a roll." -- New Orleans Times-Picayune "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 " The Tarball Chronicles is well worth your time. It's a darkly entertaining tribute to the Gulf coast, our 'national sacrifice zone.' But be warned: You'll come away discomfited and with more than a few questions of your own." -- Tampa Bay Online "Gessner has the heart and mind of an investigative journalist... Not everyone will be pleased with this Jeremiah in our midst, but the word is a fire and a hammer, and Gessner delivers it well." -- Mobile Press-Register "Highly readable, strongly recommended." --Fred Kasten, WWNO's "The Sound of Books" "An expert naturalist, he not only observes but talks with people who are in the know--forceful, insightful, blood-and-guts people who will speak their minds (like David). There is grit and heartbreak and energy in just about everything he writes." --Clyde Edgerton, the author of Lunch at the Piccadilly and Walking Across Egypt "Vivid, funny, opinionated, poignant, and mold breaking--Gessner takes us deep into the environmental and personal tragedies of the spill." --Jim Campbell, the author of The Final Frontiersman "Plenty of people are writing about the BP oil disaster, but few indeed will be able to make us feel the reality of it like David Gessner can. The likelihood that his account will also be action-filled and darkly funny is pure bonus." --John Jeremiah Sullivan, the author of Blood Horses "In this highly readable, firsthand account of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, David Gessner considers the catastrophe in the Gulf as a symptom of even bigger economic and cultural challenges that loom in our future. This excellent book is not judgmental, but thought provoking and well worth reading." --David Allen Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds Praise for Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Cod to Cuba and Beyond "David Gessner's writing is not only a testament of hope but a beautiful bow to the osprey he lives among."--Terry Tempest Williams "Gessner writes beautifully, with grace and humor."-- Publishers Weekly "An engaging, lyrical guide to osprey migration, Cuba, and a common humanity."-- Orion Magazine "Gessner's travels are filled with small delights. He has a great gift for conveying reverence without sanctimony, and even at his most sardonic and self-deprecating, his sense of wonder at the osprey never falters. As he stands on a rock above Cuba's Sierra Maestra, watching ospreys rocket past, we wish we could be up there beside him, binoculars in one hand, a cold beer in the other."--George Black, OnEarth "A grand and cheering journey on the wings of one of nature's most sociable predators."--Carl Hiassen, author of Nature Girl Praise for The Prophet of Dry Hill: Lessons From a Life in Nature "Sharing a philosophy of life and living, Gessner eloquently reacquaints readers old and new to [legendary naturalist John] Hay's magnificent contributions to the art of nature writing."-- Booklist "This book is an enormous gift, an act of preservation as important as any chunk of land purchased by The Nature Conservancy. John Hay's stature cannot be overestimated, and David Gessner has done him great justice." --Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth "If Thoreau had wanted a disciple, he couldn't have had a better one than David Gessner...This beautiful book should inspire the reader to 'get down in nature, down in the water and the dirt,' as Hay urges. I am sending my copy of this book to the wildlife-destroyer in the White House."--Alice Furlaud, NPR reporter Praise for Sick of Nature "Comical, energetic, and reverentially irreverent...Gessner's literary voice in this book is something new, something different...In particular, he argues for--and then gleefully demonstrates--the enlivening contribution of farce and other modes of narrative in the field of nature writing...More like a gulp of laughing gas than the standard breath of fresh air."-- Orion Magazine "Reminiscent of Edward Abbey, and, like that writer, [Gessner] leaves you with plenty to ponder. Highly recommended."-- Library Journal "Here is an environmental read with irreverent laughter and attentive awe both."-- Virginia Quarterly Review "Our best writer of creative nonfiction period."--Mark Spitzer, author of Bottom Feeder Praise for Return of the Osprey: A Season of Flight and Wonder "David Gessner's writing is not only a testament of hope but a beautiful bow to the osprey he lives among."--Terry Tempest Williams "Through textured anecdotes and graphic details, Gessner provides insights into the life and history of this great sea bird of prey that will delight both the committed birder and the general reader."-- Publishers Weekly "This beautifully written story of a season with birds of prey makes for engrossing reading as we learn about osprey life from a master essayist."-- Booklist "Thrilling...Memorable...Among the classics of American nature writing."-- Boston Globe "Engrossing...An author who's both sensuous and lyrical while also being pristinely concise."-- Rocky Mountain News