<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>Venice, one of the world’s most beautiful and beloved cities, may also be one of the most endangered, and this book, written by a distinguished environmental scholar, gives equal weight to both the environmental and the social problems plaguing the “Queen of the Adriatic.” Based on careful analysis and many interviews and including a multitude of photographs and relevant quotations from popular novels, this comprehensive study examines the precarious state of the city and concludes that the very future of Venice is in doubt. The author explains that not only are the rising sea levels and floods detrimental, but the millions of pleasure-seeking tourists—whom the Venetians have allowed to destroy, possibly irreparably, the social fabric of their city—are also taking their toll on one of Italy’s greatest treasures.