The thing about plastic is, it's just so EASY... the stuff made from it is light, cheap, and durable. So durable, it will hang around for up to 500 years after we throw it away.
Allison Cobb, like much of the plastics industry, grew up after World War II. She weaves her personal story with the tale of our most common material, and demonstrates violence upon the planet and violence upon people to continue consumer culture as we know it today, in the book Plastic: An Autobiography.
Ancient Phoenicia, the Los Alamos of Cobb's youth, and many current locations are visited in the book. The author visits.