"As different as we all are in situations, needs, and views, we hold the world in common. In this brilliant ethnography, Colin Jerolmack vividly highlights this basic environmental conundrum with his compelling account of the local conflicts over fracking in the countryside around Williamsport, Pennsylvania"--

The United States is the only country in the world where property rights commonly extend "up to heaven and down to hell," which means that landowners have the exclusive right to lease their subsurface mineral estates to petroleum companies. Colin Jerolmack spent eight months living with rural communities outside of Williamsport as they confronted the tension between property rights and the commonwealth. In this deeply intimate book, he reveals how the decision to lease brings financial rewards but can also cause irreparable harm to neighbors, to communal resources like air and water, and even to oneself. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell casts America's ideas about freedom and property rights in a troubling new light, revealing how your personal choices can undermine your neighbors' liberty, and how the exercise of individual rights can bring unintended environmental consequences for us all.

"While remaining very readable, [Up to Heaven and Down to Hell] provides important insights into US political polarization and includes interesting excursions into US history and social commentary. And it leads readers to ponder the relationship between politics, liberal economics and the environment. Most importantly, it provides valuable insights into the debates about global actions that might mitigate climate change and thus avoid a tragedy of the global commons that supports human life on earth."---Samuel Carmalt, Journal of World Energy Law & Business