Introduction: of burial mounds and toxic tombs -- Past as prologue: developing Niagara before Love Canal -- Building Love's canal -- The master of the chemical machine: the rise of Hooker -- Worlds collide at Love's canal -- A toxic subdivision: the problem at Love Canal -- Growing protest at Love Canal -- Widening the circle of influence -- In the end is the beginning: Love Canal lessons -- Creative destruction: resettling Love Canal and its discontents.