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""There is a word for what Darwin and the rest of us have felt whenin the presence of the reef: 'awe.' Confronted with the reef, aweis the most appropriate response. It is probably in our nature. Itis also, apparently, in our nature to destroy that which we hold inawe."" --from The Enchanted Braid Of the myriad ecosystems populating the underwater world, coralreefs are by far the most complex. While their stunning beauty hasbeen extolled for centuries, the intricate workings of reefenvironments remained largely hidden from view. In fact, until theadvent of scuba diving just fifty years ago, corals have been amongthe last natural histories to be extensively explored. The highpassion with which scientists have greeted this particularinvestigation --beginning with the foundational theories of CharlesDarwin in 1842--is perhaps unprecedented, but hardly difficult tounderstand. A phenomenon of both awesome beauty and vitalimportance, the coral reef is home to the most diverse range ofspecies of any environment on the planet, including fish, shrimps,worms, snails, crabs, sea cucumbers, sea stars, urchins, anemones,and sea squirts. The crux of reef life, scientists have discovered, lies in nature'smost intimate example of symbiosis: the mutually beneficialrelationship between the coral polyp and its ""tenant,"" thezooxanthellate algae. Davidson's history begins with thisdeceptively diminutive hybrid, the engine behind the constructionof the limestone-based coral structure. Together, the threeelements comprise a unique zoophytalite (animal-plant-mineral)form, or an ""enchanted braid."" Aided by an eight-page, full-color photographic insertdemonstrating the incredible intricacies of the reef and its uniqueinhabitants, The Enchanted Braid identifies the approximately240,000 square miles of coral reef on the planet today asindispensable not only to the livelihood of the oceans but also tohumans. The reef is, after all, the ""soul of the sea,"" the spawningground for tens of thousands of marine species. As sources of food(many islands rely on reefs for all their protein), medicine(corals are used in bone grafts and to fight cancer and leukemia),and detailed insight into the history of climatic conditions, coralreefs are critically important to human life on Earth. However, ina world of oil tanker disasters, global warming, and dwindlingnatural resources, they are also in grave danger ofextinction. Osha Gray Davidson's urgent clarion call to halt today's man-madedegradation of coral reefs is both alarming and persuasive,effectively underscored by the rich historical context of passagesfrom Darwin's captivating diary of his seminal work on reefs 150years ago. Like the coral reef, The Enchanted Braid is itself arare hybrid, a graceful combination of aesthetic appreciation,scientific inquiry, and environmental manifesto.

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THE ENCHANTED BRAID is crammed with detail...the abundance of information makes it an invaluable primer on the current state of coral reef ecology. ----Chicago Tribune, September 6, 1998

This natural history of coral reefs and our relationship to them delivers a measured but damning indictment of human environmental folly. Ten percent of the planet's reefs are degraded beyond recovery; another 30 percent will likely decline over the next two decades. Davidson, a freelance writer with broad interests (The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South, 1996; Under Fire: The NRA and the Battle for Gun Control, 1993), notes coral reefs' importance as essential strands in the enchanted braid of our global ecosystem. Reefs - the rainforests of the ocean - take up a fraction of the sea but host a quarter of all marine species. They also boast the ocean's most stunning combination of beauty and abundance. Taking more poetic license than the scientists he interviews, Davidson describes the sensory feast he observed firsthand diving on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and snorkeling during his days as a beach burn in the Florida Keys. Davidson's knack for the picturesque analogy serves him well. Limning the intricacy of their complex ecosystems, he characterizes coral reefs as the Russian novels of the sea world, full of passion and avarice, convoluted and interweaving story lines, and colorful characters by the dozens. From the biological ABCs of coral polyps and reef formation, he moves on to address the global factors threatening reefs as never before. A depressing panoply of man-made agents contributes to the ongoing decline: blast fishing (in which crude bombs are used to stun fish), cyanide poisoning (which captures exotic reef fish live for sale to affluent diners in China), along with more prosaic but ultimately more damaging factors like untreated sewage, agricultural chemicals, and increased sedimentation from logging and development. Davidson's accessible, heartfelt portrait of man's deleterious effect on the sea is a sobering examination of the devilishly complex comer humanity is painting itself into. (Kirkus Reviews)

THE ENCHANTED BRAID is crammed with detail...the abundance of information makes it an invaluable primer on the current state of coral reef ecology. --Chicago Tribune, September 6, 1998

Author Information

OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON has written for the New York Times, the New Republic, the Nation, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the San Francisco Chronicle. He is the author of The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and short-listed for the Helen Bernstein Award. He is also the author of Under Fire: The NRA and the Battle for Gun Control, a New York Times Notable Book in 1993, and Broken Heartland: The Rise of America's Rural Ghetto.

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