Pulitzer Prize General Non Fiction Winner
The Sixth Extinction
by Elizabeth Kolbert
Summary
A field-reporting tour of the ongoing, human-driven mass extinction, framed against the five great extinctions in the planet's geological past. Kolbert visits coral reefs, rainforests, and laboratories to document collapsing populations and the scientists racing to understand them. The book translates climate change, ocean acidification, and habitat destruction into vivid, place-based stories that brought planetary loss into mainstream conversation.
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Historical Context & Significance
Kolbert traveled the world to show that we are currently losing species at a rate unprecedented in millions of years.