By Sid Perkins
Steve Olson
W.W. Norton & Co., $27.95
Early in the spring of 1980, immense and inexorable forces were roiling the Pacific Northwest. Oh, and one of the region’s most active volcanoes was getting ready to blow its top.
In Eruption, science writer Steve Olson goes well beyond recounting Mount St. Helens’ geologic awakening, deadly explosion and aftermath. This fascinating book also chronicles the economic and cultural tensions gripping this part of the nation in the run-up to the May 18, 1980, catastrophe.