A SEASON
OF SPOILS

"The record of the Reagan administration on environmental matters is, in one word, appalling - and this book lays it out chapter and verse. Without too much partisan rhetoric and with compelling documentation. The book becomes a partisan political document only because the record it reports is so dreadful. [It is] the best evidence of Mr. Reagan's environmental illiteracy, his casual disregard of public hazards such as asbestos, his responsibility for the conspiracy to evade or challenge a whole body of environmental law, his support of henchmen such as [Burford] and Watt even after they had abundantly proved their unwillingness to support the laws they were appointed to protect. his further responsibility for the so-called anti- regulation team, his blithe disregard of the dangers from chemical- waste dumps, and his cowboy version of how to deal with the public domain. These are hard words for a president of the United States. I am sorry to have to write them, but this book is one of the surest ways of coming at exactly how incompetent and socially obtuse he is. I hope [it] sells twenty million copies, and every buyer reads what he has bought."
 

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"If you want to judge President Reagan on the facts instead of his television amiability, read a A Season of Spoils and see how little he cares about defending your health and your public lands from marauding corporations. A clear, often gripping story that reaches from the scientific literature to the human anguish of the victims to the colossal repudiation of the public trust and public safety that is Reagan's Washington."
 

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"This book is a real public service. It demonstrates with vivid immediacy the impact ideology and personality have had on the workings of our present government, and on our country. And the thoroughness and integrity of Mr. Lash's research into the behind-the-scenes maneuverings in Washington make A Season of Spoils a considerable contribution to our understanding of how government works in
general."