Introduction: Ghosts, Skeeters, and Rye Savannah, Georgia-- Muir spent a half-dozen hungry and desperate, yet historically important, nights in the city's famed Bonaventure Cemetery. A latter-day visit to the land of the dead underscores the South's peril, and its promise. Chapter 1: Who Is John Muir? Atlanta, Georgia-- A brief biography of the botanist, inventor, rambler, writer, cofounder of the Sierra Club, father of the national park system, and conscience of the environmental movement. Chapter 2: A New South Reckoning Louisville, Kentucky-- Muir crosses the Ohio River and into history. The land of bourbon, horses, and highways epitomizes the South's sprawling environmental problems. Chapter 3: The South's Incredible Biodiversity Is Threatened and Endangered Cave City, Kentucky-- Mammoth Cave National Park, and the Green River, are filled with natural wonders. Some species are disappearing. Some are already gone.
And some are making a comeback. Chapter 4 A Celebration of Muir Turns Toxic Kingston, Tennessee-- The annual Muir Fest is overshadowed by the nation's worst coal ash disaster and the South's checkered legacy of cheap energy. Chapter 5: "The Mountains are Calling"--and They're Not Happy Coker Creek, Tennessee-- The saga of the southern Appalachians as they succumb to the very forces that make them popular -- with deadly consequences. Chapter 6: More Rain, More Heat, and More Trouble Boone, North Carolina-- A warming world forces trees, trout, and rare flowers higher up into the mountains. Climate change hits the hills in unpredictable and alarming ways. Chapter 7: Water Wars Suches, Georgia-- Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have been fighting for a generation over the Chattahoochee River. Farmers, oystermen, kayakers, and sturgeon are threatened by the loss of this increasingly precious natural resource. Chapter 8: The Deeper the River, the Greater the Pain Augusta, Georgia-- Globalization demands a deeper Savannah River and compounds the environmental damage done previously by dams, developers, cities, farmers, and factories.
Chapter 9: A Coastal Playground Is Disappearing Tybee Island, Georgia-- Rising seas. Ghost forests. Sunny-day flooding. Salty tap water. Bigger hurricanes. There's not enough money to save the coast from a warming world. Chapter 10: Where Hogs Rule and Turtles Tremble Ossabaw Island, Georgia-- Invasive species--wild boar, Burmese pythons, tegu lizards, lionfish, northern snakeheads, melaleuca trees, laurel wilt--march relentlessly across the South. A marksman aims to save at least one endangered species.
Chapter 11: Take My Water, Please High Springs, Florida-- The aquifer running from Savannah to Miami is under siege from overuse, pollution, and saltwater intrusion. Yet Florida all but gives away billions of gallons a year to private profiteers. Chapter 12: The End of the Road Cedar Key, Florida-- Development imperils one of Florida's last wild places. Science, though, offers hope for the future. Acknowledgments Further Readings About the Author.