BOOM, BUST, BOOM

An informative and thought-provoking account of civilization’s complete dependence on copper, and what digging it from the earth really means for people, nature, and the global economy.

Boom, Bust, Boom begins with Bill Carter planting a garden in the backyard of his family’s house in the small town of Bisbee, Arizona and temporarily sickening himself when he eats the vegetables he grows. Soon he learns that the soil in his yard has 100 times the allowable level of arsenic in it, the result of the copper mining tailings from the giant copper mine that may soon be reopened in his town by its corporate owners in response to booming global demand for copper.

From there he launches into a full-scale exploration of the history, culture, and economics of copper, and interviews a variety of people affected by copper mining in Bisbee and locally in nearby towns, visits a nearby mine in Mexico, investigates a proposed $6 billion mine in Alaska, and contemplates the global interrelatedness of copper, one of the vectors being that it is mined in the U.S., sold to China as a commodity, used in consumer products, and sold back to Americans. By the book’s end he has reached a considered decision about whether he can really leave Brisbee, given his complete dependence upon copper, and thoroughly educated the reader about this mysterious, valuable, and essential part of our lives.

Bill Carter is the author of Red Summer: The Danger, Madness, and Exaltation of salmon fishing in a remote Alaskan Village and Fools Rush In: A True Story of Love, War, and Redemption and the director of Miss Sarajevo, an award-winning documentary produced by Bono. He has written for Rolling Stone, Outside, Men’s Journal and other publications on topics such as drug trafficking in Mexico, crime in Algiers, and trekking across Utah with no more than a cup, a knife, a compass, and extra pair of socks. He lives with his family in Southern Arizona.