No Good Alternative Volume Two of Carbon Ideologies

Praise for No Good Alternative:

Carbon Ideologies is an almanac of global energy use . . . a travelogue to natural landscapes riven by energy production . . . a compassionate work of anthropology that tries to make sense of man s inability to weigh future cataclysm against short-term comfort . . . one of the most honest books yet written on climate change. Nathaniel Rich, The Atlantic

[Vollmann] packs voice and passion into his examination of what we are doing to the earth, taking aim at coal, oil and natural gas and filling his book with interviews with people whose lives have been disrupted by those industries. Vollmann's intended readers, he says, are those in the devastated future.   The New York Times Book Review 

In the face of complex, contested data, Vollmann is a diligent and perceptive guide. He s also deeply mindful of those who ve been sacrificed in the name of profits and political expediency. Amid the Trump administration s rollbacks of environment protections, these are incontestably important books.   The San Francisco Chronicle

Vollmann s many fans . . . will not be disappointed . . . he packs research and voice into his impassioned works . . . Reading these two books did have an effect on me; I became even more conscious of the resources I waste in my own life. John Schwartz, The New York Times Book Review

One of the enjoyable things about this massive work is the way Vollmann employs irony, and that bluntest of irony called sarcasm, throughout the volume. He can be quite humorous. You might even call this the Infinite Jest of climate books . . . there s something admirable, even noble, about the sheer time and effort and sheer humanity that went into these volumes.   The Baffler

Equal parts gonzo journalism, hand-wringing confessional, and one hot mess . . . the books document Vollmann s quest to understand how capitalism, consumerism, and fossil fuels are ruining the planet. Sierra

The best part of the books [are] the conversations Vollmann had during his travels, the sensitive histories he gives of the places he visited, and the moral impressions those conversations and places have made on him. It s these parts that made Carbon Ideologies a unique, lasting, definitive contribution to the global warming literature.   The Humanist

An elegy to our damned epoch that s also a work of enlightenment and education . . . the book is a performance of the vexations involved in trying to understand our energy reality . . . [Vollmann s] project not unlike that of his historical fiction is to show with utmost fidelity what it was like to be a human involved in terrible things.   The Los Angeles Review of Books

Vollmann portrays individuals who have endured intimidation to speak out against the callous villainies of fuel corporations.  Unflinching, exacting, and forthright, he brings abiding respect, empathy, and tenderness to this endeavor . . .  Invaluable, enlightening, and heartrending testimony to how enmeshed we all are in the carbon-industrial complex and accelerated climate change. ALA Booklist