Anyone who has ever stood on the shores of Monterey Bay, watching the rolling ocean waves and frolicking otters, knows it is a unique place. But even residents on this idyllic California coast may not realize its full history. Monterey began as a natural paradise, but became the poster child for industrial devastation in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, and is now one of the most celebrated shorelines in the world.

It is a remarkable story of life, death, and revival--told here for the first time in all its stunning color and bleak grays. The Death and Life of Monterey Bay begins in the...