Smoke Wars: Anaconda Copper, Montana Air Pollution, and the Courts, 1890-1920.

• Position: Review

Donald MacMillan. Helena, MT: Montana Historical Society Press, 2000. (800) 243-9900. 304 pp. $40.00 Clothbound; $18.95 Paperbound.

Smoke Wars: Anaconda Copper, Montana Air Pollution, and the Courts, 1890-1920 explores the history of air pollution by focusing on two copper mining and smelting communities in Montana. MacMillan discusses the public outcry over extremely high death rates due to noxious smoke from heap roasting, the struggles of farmers to protect their livestock and crops from harmful pollution, and the federal government's protest of damage to national forests. MacMillan reasons that the...