China's environmental problems are in the news. As I drafted this review, the disastrous situation with pollution and health care in the People's Republic was being reported on the front page of the Sunday New York Times (with the headline "Rivers Run Black") and in The Economist. A critical appraisal of the problems and of the efforts being made to remedy them is needed. In principle, therefore, Elizabeth Economy's new book is a welcome addition to the works on a slightly earlier period by scholars such as Vaclav Smil, Richard L. Edmonds, Judith Shapiro and many others.
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