The Greening of Pentagon Brownfields: Using Environmental Discourse to Redevelop Former Military Bases. By Kenneth N. Hansen. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2004. 164p. $60.00.

In this book, Kenneth Hansen has produced an interesting assessment of how states and localities have increased their institutional capacities to deal with the unanticipated consequences of federal downsizing and pollution at military bases in the 1990s. Hansen uses survey data from 44 of the 115 military installations that were recommended for closure or realignment by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) between 1988 and 1995, as well as several case studies of military bases, to support his core proposition—that environmental factors are among the key intervening variables in the base redevelopment process. The topics discussed are especially timely, given the highly publicized and contentious battle over base closings this past year.