What do you think?
Rate this book
No Option But Sabotage: The Radical Environmental Movement and the Climate Crisis
An authoritative history of the radical environmental movement in the United States, No Option But Sabotage explores how far activists are willing to go to defend the planet in the face of repression and the escalating climate crisis.
After 9/11, the radical environmental movement was considered the number one domestic terror threat by the U.S. government. But by the end of the decade the movement had largely gone silent. What happened? And given the threat from climate, why haven't more radical tactics re-emerged?
In No Option But Sabotage, Thomas Zeitzoff traces the origins, rise, fall, and potential rise again of the movement. Using in-depth interviews with past and current activists, as well as experts, Zeitzoff covers the main factions and actors. These Earth First! and its early advocacy for "monkeywrenching;" the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski and his years-long anti-technology bombing campaign; the connections between animal liberation, punk, and the emergence of the Earth Liberation Front and its arson campaign; and more recent climate activists and their use of disruptive tactics. Along with providing a comprehensive overview of the movement and its various sub-movements that emerged over time, Zeitzoff also asks the bigger question-given the scope and threat from climate change why haven't activists escalated their tactics? Property destruction, sabotage, and even arson were once regular features of the movement in the 1990s and early 2000s--will activists use them again, or will they stick to non-violence? Will the threat of increasing state repression scare activists, or radicalize them?
Not just a history of a major extremist movement, this book tells the story of radical environmentalism and highlights how activists are confronting the dual threats of climate change and repression, and asking themselves how far they are willing to go to protect the planet.
After 9/11, the radical environmental movement was considered the number one domestic terror threat by the U.S. government. But by the end of the decade the movement had largely gone silent. What happened? And given the threat from climate, why haven't more radical tactics re-emerged?
In No Option But Sabotage, Thomas Zeitzoff traces the origins, rise, fall, and potential rise again of the movement. Using in-depth interviews with past and current activists, as well as experts, Zeitzoff covers the main factions and actors. These Earth First! and its early advocacy for "monkeywrenching;" the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski and his years-long anti-technology bombing campaign; the connections between animal liberation, punk, and the emergence of the Earth Liberation Front and its arson campaign; and more recent climate activists and their use of disruptive tactics. Along with providing a comprehensive overview of the movement and its various sub-movements that emerged over time, Zeitzoff also asks the bigger question-given the scope and threat from climate change why haven't activists escalated their tactics? Property destruction, sabotage, and even arson were once regular features of the movement in the 1990s and early 2000s--will activists use them again, or will they stick to non-violence? Will the threat of increasing state repression scare activists, or radicalize them?
Not just a history of a major extremist movement, this book tells the story of radical environmentalism and highlights how activists are confronting the dual threats of climate change and repression, and asking themselves how far they are willing to go to protect the planet.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published February 16, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 23, 2026
Thomas Zeitzoff has written an extraordinary book about the history and origins about the radical environmental movement. He has interviewed over a 100 in-person people who were the leaders and followers of the movement. An awesome history of scholarship told in a chatty and very informative manner. He raises questions about what happened and where we are now. A very timely book about the movement and the future of environmentalism and our current climate crisis.
May 9, 2026
The chapters on Earth First! and ELF are well-organized and informative.
The part of this story that confuses me the most—and which I was hoping to understand—the climate justice movement, seemed to me to be precisely the aspect the author explored the least. Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect a historical analysis of an ongoing process, and perhaps the key to understanding this movement lies in the UK, not the US.
The part of this story that confuses me the most—and which I was hoping to understand—the climate justice movement, seemed to me to be precisely the aspect the author explored the least. Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect a historical analysis of an ongoing process, and perhaps the key to understanding this movement lies in the UK, not the US.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews