The chemical compound DDT first earned fame during World War II by wiping out insects that caused disease, and Americans later sprayed it on everything from crops to curtains. In 1972, it was banned in the US, but decades after that, a cry arose to demand its return. Tracing the history of DDT, Elena Conis follows it from postwar farms and suburban enclaves to the floors of Congress and tony social clubs, where industry barons tried to figure out how to sell the idea that a little poison in our food was nothing to worry about.