Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens's powerful explosions in 1980 shook the country for hundreds of miles; its destructive mudflow leveled whole forests, and left behind desolate landscapes. Almost from the moment the volcano quieted down, there has been a slow but steady return of life to the mountain. With Lauber's taut prose and well-edited photographs, the reader relives the eruption and healing. The author begins with scientists' predictions, 123 years before the volcano blew; documents the actual blast; then traces the surviving plant, animal and insect life which continue to develop to this day. Lauber also explains how these survivors created a base on which other life forms could take hold. The full-color photos allow readers to observe the contrasts caused by the eruptions: a peaceful lake becomes a lunar mudhole, green plants grow stubbornly out of cracks in the hard crust. The bookand Mount St. Helensstand as testimony to the tenacity of life. This is a magnificent, awe-inspiring work. (8-11)