Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports to America
John Leland
248 pages, hardcover: $29.95
University of South Carolina Press, 2005.

We know by now that exotic species often wreak havoc: Asian tiger mosquitoes spread West Nile virus, Australian eucalyptus trees increase California’s fire risk. But Leland shows us that they can bring benefits, too: Think Japanese cherry trees, European honeybees, and carrot plants from Afghanistan. And many of us are imports ourselves. To live in America today, Leland says, is truly to be a "stranger in a strange land."