Part scientific detective story, part personal odyssey, The Last Extinction is the definitive account of a radical theory that has reshaped how we understand our planet’s past and, as we face the possibility of a sixth extinction, how we might survive its future. For decades, the dominant theory held that an asteroid impact caused the dinosaurs’ extinction. But Princeton Geologist Dr. Gerta Keller followed the evidence to the truth: Deccan volcanism, a series of massive volcanic eruptions in India, triggered a long-term climate catastrophe and Earth’s fifth mass extinction. Her findings upended the field and ignited a bitter feud in modern science–what became known as the “Dinosaur Wars.” Keller, a Professor of Paleontology and Geology at Princeton University, refused to back down in the face of ridicule, sabotage, and sexism, which makes her story as thrilling as her science, and offers urgent insight into today’s climate crisis: Sustained planetary upheaval–not a single cataclysmic event–can plunge the planet into an age of death.
