Paradigms and methods in early medieval studies

"A personal story crossed with a political potboiler, Left in the Dust is an account of the City of Los Angeles's creation of, cover-up of, and inadequate attempts to repair a major environmental catastrophe. Owens River, which once fed Owens Lake, was diverted away from the lake to supply the faucets and sprinklers of Los Angeles. The dry lakebed now contains dust saturated with toxic heavy metals, which are blown from the lake and inhaled by unsuspecting citizens throughout the West, causing major health problems. Karen Piper, one of the victims who grew up breathing that dust, reveals the truth behind this tragedy and examines how waste and pollution are often neglected to encourage urban growth, while poor, nonwhite, and rural areas are forgotten or sacrificed." "The cost of fixing environmental disasters like Owens Lake and now the Salton Sea is threatening to bankrupt Southern California." "The water systems that once allowed for urban development in the early twentieth century, generating optimism and a sense of national pride, are now at risk or are already crumbling and causing major environmental hazards throughout the nation."--Jacket.