Prologue: The secret life of Christmas trees

A living altar

Trees that time forgot

Tragedy of the commons

Timbers of resistance

American Eden

The pine tree riot

Babbitt's big idea

Life on the Mississippi

The turpentine trail

The discovery tree

Too much of a good thing

Terrestrial whaling

Where fools rush in

Cut out and get out

Tinderbox

Airplane spruce

Plywood nation

Trial by fire

Green glacier

And the trees will last forever

Evergreens everywhere

All from a seed this big

Epilogue: Have yourself a garish little Christmas.