This new edition - now with Nancy Jackson as a co-author - continues the themes of the first edition: the need to restore the biodiversity, ecosystem health, and ecosystem services provided by coastal landforms and habitats, especially in the light of climate change. The second edition reports on progress made on practices identified in the first edition, presents additional case studies, and addresses new and emerging issues. It analyzes the tradeoffs involved in restoring beaches and dunes - especially on developed coasts - the most effective approaches to use, and how stakeholders can play an active role. The concept of restoration is broad, and includes physical, ecological, economic, social, and ethical principles and ideals. The book will be valuable for coastal scientists, engineers, planners, and managers, as well as shorefront residents. It will also serve as a useful supplementary reference textbook in courses dealing with issues of coastal management and ecology.

‘Read this book for a thorough and up-to-date account of the methods currently used in dune and beach restoration. Nordstrom and Jackson are world leaders in this field and they use a multitude of real-life case studies to illustrate the methods described. The work is contextualized in the framework of international agreements on biodiversity and habitat preservation, that are tempered by local demands and actions. Importantly, the authors talk about various categories and goals of restoration that allow the reader to differentiate the various paradigms within which restoration is undertaken. This will appeal to those involved in coastal conservation, engineering and management.’

Andrew Cooper - Ulster University

‘Nordstrom and Jackson deliver fundamental insights into the complex dynamics of the world's human-altered coastlines. Essential reading for understanding the enigmatic ways in which humans change the physical coastal systems in which we live … a masterwork on the geomorphic interventions that typify human-dominated coastlines. Anyone thinking about future coastal change needs this book.’

‘An urgent need to understand practical steps to manage the ocean–land boundary has arrived. With sea level rise and rapid urbanization, landowners, governmental managers, and designers must quickly find the best solutions to maintain functioning and valuable sandy shorelines. The authors give us the many perspectives of stakeholders from small to regional scales.  This book is an invaluable compendium of coastal issues and solutions that are pragmatic for different landforms and social settings. The comprehensive discussion of hard and soft solutions for protecting changing coastlines details the constraints and compromises necessary to manage shorelines. The perspectives from biology, geology, ecology, economics, and the regulatory world are richly detailed, showing the wide perspective that is needed. The value of ecological solutions is detailed but the constraints on restoration ecology in our modern world are frankly presented. This book is the best manual now available to understand the interdisciplinary approach that must be taken for a sustainable shoreline future. As a text for advanced education or as a desktop encyclopedia for regulators and shoreline professionals, this Nordstrom and Jackson new edition is our best guide to designing and managing sea-land edges. References and case studies are from around the world, giving the volume the widest application.’

Steven N. Handel - Rutgers University; Editor, Ecological Restoration