Thomas Hylland Eriksen (1962 – 2024) was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and former President of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA). He was among the most highly cited anthropologists of his generation, and his classic and accessible textbook Small Places, Large Issues remains a cornerstone in anthropology courses. His later books, including Overheating, tackled the important issue of climate change within the discipline.

'It takes a seasoned anthropologist like Thomas Hylland Eriksen, with his wealth of research and experience to elevate this ethnographic depiction of a town in Queensland to a study of the many social, economic and ecological tensions and contradictions that animate many places around the world'

• List of IllustrationsAbbreviations PrefacePrologue: The High Point of Extractive Industrialism Part I: Citrus, Altius, Fortius1. A City No Longer in Waiting2. Australian Identity and Its Double Binds 3. Change in Their Bones4. The Boomtown Syndrome and the Treadmill ParadoxPart II: Clashing Scales 5. Green Voices6. Dredging the Harbour7. Slow-Burning Overheating at the East End Mine8. The Demise of Targinnie9. Clashing Scales: Globalisation, as we Know ItEpilogue: A Boomtown in Decline Appendix 1: Anna Hitchcock's submission regarding the furtherexpansion of the State Development Area in Gladstone in 2014 Appendix 2: Letter to Coordinator-General from Cheryl Watson BibliographyIndex