Cathedral, cash crop, the Earth's respiratory system: the rainforest is all this and more. Larry Pynn, award'winning environment writer, plunges into coastal forests from California to Alaska to awaken us to this unique ecosystem and to the complex factors that threaten it. Talking with forestry workers, hunters, rangers, Natives, and environmentalists, the author cuts through logger'versus'environmentalists rhetoric. Field forays, with scientists and researchers document the effects of human incursion. The incalculable wealth and magnificence of these last stands spring forth in this savvy, down'to'earth chronicle.