HARBOR BRANCH - OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Everglades Author Michael Grunwald to Speak at Harbor Branch

FORT PIERCE -- Award-winning Washington Post reporter and author Michael Grunwald will discuss his new book, The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise, during a special presentation at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution on Thursday, May 18, at 7:00 p.m.

The meticulously researched book tells the complete story of the Everglades, including its geological formation and its transition from America's last frontier to its current status as the focus of the largest environmental restoration project in the history of the planet.

"It is the story of a remarkable swath of real estate and the remarkable people it has attracted," writes Grunwald, "from the aboriginals who created the continent's first permanent settlement in the Everglades, to the U.S. soldiers who fought a futile war of ethnic cleansing in the Everglades, to the dreams and schemers who have tried to settle, drain, tame, develop, sell, preserve and restore the Everglades. It's a story about hubris and unintended consequences, about the mistakes man has made in his relationship with nature and his unprecedented effort to fix them."

The Swamp has received glowing reviews from a wide range of media outlets, including The New York Times, which called Grunwald a "terrific writer" and said the book "moves along at a cracking pace." The South Florida Sun-Sentinel calls The Swamp "A superb narrative," and Publishers Weekly says it's "enthralling."

Grunwald graduated from Harvard College and first worked as a local and national reporter for The Boston Globe before joining the Washington Post in 1998. There he first covered the Justice Department and Congress and served as a New York City bureau chief then moved on to an enterprise beat. Grunwald first became interested in the Everglades during a yearlong investigation of the Army Corps of Engineers for the Post. In 2002, he returned to the area for a series on the Everglades restoration project, which won the Society of Environmental Journalists award for in-depth reporting. Grunwald then took a leave of absence and moved to Miami's South Beach for two years to research and write The Swamp. He has since returned to Washington, D.C., and is once again reporting full-time for the Washington Post, investigating such topics as Congressional appropriations and the federal government's mishaps in Hurricane Katrina.

DETAILS

Grunwald's talk will be held in the auditorium of the Johnson Education Center on the Harbor Branch Campus, 5600 US 1 North, Ft. Pierce, Fla. at 7:00 p.m. ONLY on Thursday, May 18. Admission is $5 and the talk will be followed by a reception with cash bar. There will also be a book signing, and books will be available for purchase at the talk.

Grunwald is available for interviews. High-resolution photos of the author, the book cover, and two of the spectacular Clyde Butcher black and white photographs of the Everglades used to illustrate the book are also available. For press inquiries, please contact Mark Schrope at 772-216-0390 or schrope@hboi.edu.

Public inquiries about the talk should be directed to the Marine Education Office at 772-465-2400 ext. 506 or education@hboi.edu.

HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution was founded in Ft. Pierce, Fla., in 1971 to support the exploration and conservation of the world's oceans. The institution has held to this mission and grown into one of the world's leading oceanographic institutions with a 500-acre campus, over 200 personnel, and a fleet of sophisticated research ships and submersibles.