Book Review: A Prominent Author Who Fought For the Environment Decades Before Other Celebs Did

 I reviewed Lucky Mud & Other Foma, a look at Kurt Vonnegut, his books, and his dedication to the environment and to humankind, for the East Hampton Star. Christina Jarvis wrote the book. 

"This book tells the story of Vonnegut's planetary citizenship," Ms. Jarvis, a professor of English at the State University at Fredonia, writes in the introduction. "It discovers the origins of his environmental stewardship in lessons from Vonnegut's Orchard School teacher Hillis Howie and the ethics and political ideals forged during his teenage Western adventures. It also explores Vonnegut's deep attachments to place and the profound ways his biology, chemistry, and anthropology studies shaped his planetary thinking."

As one might suspect in a book about Vonnegut, the title is odd. Lucky mud and foma are aspects of Vonnegut's invented religion, Bokononism, in his novel Cat's Cradle. Lucky mud refers to mud tapped by God to sit up and take in the Earth around it, while foma denotes a harmless untruth. 

My review said, "The reader may, at times, wonder if it would've worked better as, say, a 10,000-word New Yorker article, articulating Vonnegut's vision for a better Earth while freeing up a bit of time for the reader. 

But true fans of Vonnegut will enjoy "Lucky Mud," and will respect how he was a champion of our planet's health several decades before other writers, celebrities, and citizens took up the cause."