Environment and Nature Books

My 11 year old daughter thought this book was awesome. When I asked why, she said, "you have to read it". So, I did. What I found was an inspiring tale of two girls who worked hard at their science project to affect real, positive change in their town. But I also saw two girls that worked hard to come together as friends, that learned what it meant to work as a team, that had to look at things from a different perspective and who did not give up even in the face of mean Mr. Higgins and his bully son. While you know these girls have underlying courage, the author lets us see how they wrestle with these issues in a very real way. I think young girls can relate to Kristin and Riley which makes the story believable. As a parent, I appreciate the well-written story with very strong female role models.

In these days of poor grammar and lack of respect for the rules of the English language, "Last Pick on the Planet" is a wonderful example of proper language usage. It is well written, cohesive and definitely gets into the mind of young girls. It is almost as if it had been written by a youngster.

As an adult,I thoroughly enjoyed it and passed it on to my 12 year old granddaughter who said she loved it so much she read it in two sittings. How unusual to read a book that is appropriate for all ages and is a fine example of a rare positive portrayal of peteenagers

I really liked the story--it was exciting to follow the two girls as they got more and more involved in their science project, and I thought the lessons they learned about how a community works were well-written and true. It was a great read!

At last, amidst all the tripe that passes for young adult literature these days, I have found a novel that not only tells a story that my 13 year old would find interesting but it does so in a way that is both compelling and intelligent.

The novel, inspired by a true story, tells the tale of two very different girls who must work together on a school science project. As they learn to work together and overcome their differences, they realize that they can bring about real change, change in their families, in their school, in their community and in their world. It is a story about the power of friendship, the importance of teamwork and the ability of youth to have a huge impact on the world. Important messages, all of them, couched in a fun and funny tale.

What is most refreshing about this novel is the quality of the writing. These days every young adult book seems to be a novelization of a Made-for-TV movie. Not this one. The writing is in no way condescending. Rather it is intelligent, insightful and witty. It is writing that appeals to the younger reader but that well educated adults will recognize as on par with the books that they read when they were growing up.

Buy this book for the young adult in your life. You will be glad you did.

I'm about 180 pages through the book and have been marking it up extensively for future reference. Brower does an excellent job of summarizing a lot of current and older but useful thinking on environmentalism. Each time I go back to my reading, I keep wanting to refer to earlier passages, so I look for an index. In fact that's why I'm writing this brief review. I hope that the publisher sees it and actually produces one for a future edition or printing. It would be very helpful, since I'm sure I'll want to come back to the book.

Over the last several months, I've hit upon the topic of saving the earth from another author, Daniel Quinn, the author of Ishmael. The goal is the same, but Quinn offers an alternative way of thinking that I find quite interesting. I'd like to ask both Brower and Quinn what they think of one anothers approaches, but, of course, that is now impossible in the case of Brower. If anyone knows whether they have ever met or read about one another, I'd be interested in knowing their reactions to the other's work. Since Quinn's approach is not an environmentalist's approach, I doubt that they have knowledge of one another. However, Quinn is pretty savy on all aspects of saving the earth.

I don't know if I specified it was OK to show my e-mail address, but here it is if someone wants to respond: mtn_view@sirius.com.

This novel was great. It was innovative and original. Unlike a lot of environmental books, this one wasn't dull or scientific. Instead, it reached out at you with it's practicality and simplicity. Brower uses real life examples to make his ideas tangible to the reader. This book was well written and is a modern Must Read. Get Inspired!... Read this book.

The Late David Brower takes us through the journey that was his life. With explicit detail, david brower shows us the world in his eyes. His deep passion to inspire everyone with CPR ( conservation preservation restoration) and respect for the environment in which we live in is truly written with heartfelt words, and continues to move me. Founder of Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Insitute, Browers Legacy will indeed never be forgotten. Being so involved in some of the most important national monuments to be made such as dinosaur national park, his spirit and love will forever shine through in his life work to both serve and protect mother nature in all of her natural glory. Told by Brower he takes you on the path of his life, both past and to the present, giving such details of an exciting and meaningful life, such as his times with the wonderfully talented photographer the late ansel adams, work with JFK, and much more! From start to finish this book is indeed a classic, and a wonderful tribute to the late archdruid himself.

Although this is somewhat irrelevant to the book itself, I'm amazed that David Brower was able to write such an articulate, evocative ecological eye-opener at the age of 82...which is not to say I applied a lower set of standards to the judging of "Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers run". Such a bias wouldn't be necessary for the book to be praised and revered by all environmentally-conscious readers who happen upon it; in this, the era of unfettered desecration and destruction of the Earth, the former president of the Sierra Club provides a much needed argument on behalf of all those who enjoy nature and, also, all those who merely want their descendants to be able to breathe . In the gentlemanly prose he maintains throughout the book, Brower explains the necessity of wildlife preservation, what the restoration of the planet would entail, and the political factors involved in the environmentalist movement; he recounts pass successes of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, encounters with prominent individuals such as FDR and John Muir, and, when he was a boy, describing the beauty of the pristine bay area locale he grew up in to his blind mother. Aside from issuing an eloquent "call to arms to those who would save the Earth", Brower also seems to attempt to convert those who have not yet recognized how nature can enrich their lives tenfold; from dramatic descriptions of his mountaineering exploits to waxing poetic about

the simple enjoyment one derives from observing creatures in the wild, he tries valiantly to convey the euphoria one attains from cherishing and truly experiencing the wonders of the Earth to the unenlightened. All in all, a fantastic book that ranks as one of my all-time non-fiction favorites, and required reading for all the indolent armchair environmentalists like myself who desperately need a motivational boost to start working at saving the planet.

I read River of Grass last fall and then read Liquid Land last winter. It was great. Easy to read and follow. Very informative.
I'm reading it for the second time now. You can't read it without coming away with genuine concern or affirming everything you have thought or been told about the state of our Everglades and how vital they are to the well-being of our Earth.

From panthers to tree snails, author Levin has experienced Florida's Everglades as no other, and here is provided an artful survey of author Ted Levin's travels through the region. From issues surrounding its restoration efforts to history of wildlife and wildlife management efforts, Liquid Land is packed from cover to cover with eye-opening insights.

This book just won author Ted Levin the 2004 John Burroughs Award for natural history writing, putting him in the company of such wonderful writers as David Quammen (Song of the Dodo), Carl Safina (Eye of the Albatross), Rachel Carson (The Sea Around Us), John McPhee (Control of Nature), Bernd Heinrich (Mind of the Raven), and others.

For me, this book is the new Everglades natural history classic, and will go on my bookshelf next to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas' "The Everglades: River of Grass."

The Florida peninsula was at one time, depending on how you looked at it, a collection of pestilential swamps and frightening dark hardwood hammocks and pine woodlands, or a remarkable paradise of biodiverse and uniquely intertwined ecosystems. I tend to view the peninsula that was as the latter and I am saddened by, for example, the loss of tropical hardwood hammock to the ever growing asphalt and concrete jungle that is called greater Miami.

Indeed, of the many splendors of the "Sunshine State" the Everglades is one of the most remarkable. Made famous by Marjory Stoneman Douglas (who lived to reach 100 years of age), it has at least as much allure as the "Big Scrub" of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. I have seen both, but by the time I saw them they were both much diminished from what they were even fifty years before.

Ted Levin eloquently tells the story of the Everglades, its near destruction and attempted restoration in "Liquid Land: A Journey Through the Florida Everglades." It is not a pretty story as it involves many misguided ideas about the "grassy waters." These led to the building of miles of canals and dikes and one of the most messed up attempts to tame the untamable in the history of the United States. Whether the Army Corps of Engineers can restore the Glades to their original splendor is questionable, as they don't even really know what the Everglades were like prior to the end of the 19th Century. Nobody bothered to record it! After all it was worthless swamp and jungle to the developers like Napoleon Bonaparte Broward.

Levin records this sad history of an underappreciated wilderness reduced to, as Levin says, the artificialness of Disney World by the pumps that try to restore "normal" flows of water. Besieged by often totally inappropriate development, the Everglades still survive in a much reduced form. This world was also well described, as well as illustrated by beautiful and haunting photographs as it was in the early 1970s, by Archie Carr in "The Everglades" (Time-Life Books).

A monumental "tribute" to the short-sightedness and unbelievable hubris of the human species, the story of the Everglades is also one of hope, however slight. Archie Carr always tried to look on the bright side of the issue and I think we have to do so as much as we can (while not sugar- coating the destruction that has occurred in the past and is still going on today). While a mere shadow of what once was, there are still some areas like Corkscrew Swamp and (if you are very adventurous) the Fakahatchee Strand that are very much worth seeing- especially if you can appreciate swamps.

Read Ted Levin's book if you care about the special wild places of this planet!

Sandra Steingraber gives a well researched, objective, yet highly personal account of the interplay between our environment, and the degradation thereof, and the ever increasing face of cancer in the US. This book sould be read by every person who cares about their own health and the health of those around them. We should thank Ms. Steingraber for giving us this cricial information in an easy to understand format.

Ms Steingraber provides poignant views of the environment where she and others are bathed in toxins. Her chapters are simply titled air, water, fire, ... , but they each delve deeply into both science and personal history.

Ms Steingraber knows her science and at the same time has a wonderful gift for conveying it to others less knowledgeable.

On the personal level, the author relates very closely to the place where she grew up and its effects on her immediate environment where she became a cancer victim at the age of 20.

My only disappointment was that the author did not quantitatively describe the various risks. Specifically, what is the relative level of risk of eating meat versus being a vegetarian?

All in all a wonderful and very readable book that I would strongly recommend to all.

This book, together with OUR STOLEN FUTURE, reveal the truth chemical corporations have kept secret since the 1930's. All of us our now carrying endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC's or "gender benders") hidden in our fat cells which are altering our sexuality, our ability to reproduce, our short term memory, our health...perhaps the very survival of the species. Steingraber makes this data accesible while she invokes a sense of land and family, as well as the stigma of cancer. Read this book! Then you can decide what you want to drink and eat---for yourself and those you love! V.S. Ferguson/author of INANNA RETURNS

Early on it is evident Steingraber is an ecologist (informative) and a poet (delightful writing) - exceptionally rewarding read: packed with data interwoven with relevant anecdotes from her life. When you finish reading this I urge you to read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring if you haven't already. Steingraber presents the overwhelming evidence confirming Carson's early insights, fears and predictions.

I really liked this book. It's hard to find a good children's book with an entertaining story, educational value, and a message. Katie truly has a gift for writing. She doesn't let her wings shrink (read the story to find out what that means).

Katie Beck's parable of faith, hope, and tradgedy is a wonderful story for all ages. Her illustrations are remarkably well done for someone so young. The story of Moki is both educational and inspirational. I recommend this book for every young person.

Miss Beck has done a supurb job of weaving a story of the Moas into a parable that teaches us all to look into ourselves for strength, purpose, and the consequences of our choices. It is a book for young and adult to savor for its simplistic beauty. The illustrations reflect the grace and triumph of the author/illustrator. A must have book for my teaching and for sharing with family. I hope this young author shares more of her wisdom and talent with the world!

I liked the Moas for its gentle, understated uniqueness. With superb pencil illustrations and compelling, easily understood text, " The Moas" tells the story of Moki, a young Moa who must teach himself to fly or perish. Far from the ordinary, a picture book for adults as well as children, its thought provoking messages are clear. Believe in yourself. Have courage to stand alone. Exercise gifts and abilities before they are lost. Avoid excesses. Have hope. Never give up. The importance of species preservation and information about Maori culture and history are interwoven into the story skillfully. As a teacher and parent I will use this book year after year

One needn't read the blurb to know that DO is a professor. The writing style, the subject chosen and the way it has been treated, the examples given... all point towards a very advanced mind! The power of this book lies in the relentless power of the ideology and the prose to raise questions in the mind of the reader, and forcing the reader to reconsider some of his/her own beliefs and viewpoints.

The professor makes this journey even more enjoyable through his deliciously witty sarcasms and digs at the capitalistic society of today and its spin-doctors of advertising. Through numerous examples and penetrating questions, the writer clearly supports his point of view that humanity today is rushing headlong into the future, with a blind reliance on science and technology/forms of government/economic theories... and this faith he claims, seems to mirror an almost religious fervor. The writer clearly illustrates how humanity is increasingly trading its unknown future for short term gains of a few in positions of power to exploit those gains.

The book deals with the subject of designing the future with Nature in mind, and speaks of the nature of design. Quite a heavy book in terms of the ideas, though the writing is wonderfully simple and straightforward. But aren't the clearest minds with the most elegant and terse prose, the hardest to comprehend? Simply a brilliant book that is a must read, and replete with a wonderfully diverse reference list at the end.

Orr's book is a fantastic illustration of the current state of the world in terms of the relationship between technology, ecology, design and economy from a theoretical-philosophical perspective. He does not brush anything "under the carpet" and provides a very broad and deep understanding of our incompetence as a society saturated with consumption to deal with the consequences of our modern way of life. The best thing about this book, in comparison with other books in the subject, is first of all that it provides a highly engaging read, and second of all that it offers a very clear solution to our social and environmental problems - to live within and according to nature's limits. Orr's argument is convincing, not only because it is supported by many beautiful references, but mainly because it provides a very practical and honest pathway to the future.

I didn't think I'd like this book as much as I actually did. It was informative, questioning, and thought provoking. Great for someone who knows little about ecological literacy but wants to know more. A good beginner's book for someone starting to realize the intrinsic value in nature.

Orr expands on some of the themes brought to the forefront in his last two books (Ecological Literacy and Earth in Mind). However, he highlights aspects critical to a sustaining culture that lie outside the boundaries of convential educational thought, and even outside the previous bounds of Orr's comprehensive vision of education.
He explains and argues for a continually expanded vision of 'education' again, and embeds this process in the larger processes of life; tirelessy showing that there are no boundaries between the two - and what this means for our place in the living world.
Chapters such as "Architecture as Pedagogy" represent some of his past work refined.
It is in the first half dozen chapters, however, that I feel he gets closest to the heart of the matter. In chapters such as "Slow Knowledge" and "Verbicide" he brings forth such elements as time, information, the speed at which we unite (or disjoint) them, and our relationship between such daily elements. I have been on a constant search for commentary on the implications of our relationship with time as it concerns sustainability. (Some of the best writing on it, that I've found is in The Sabbath by A.J Heschel and Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram). There is little written directly about this in the general literature, much of it not embedded in the concept of sustainability. The majority of it is also somewhat hidden in studies of religion, symbolism, and philosophy. Orr brings these relationships into the open and connects our perception and the design of our use of time directly to the ground. He never loses sight of the how such processes impact our prospects for a livable future.
He also contextualizes this relationship in the ever widening definition (largely thanks to Orr himself) of DESIGN - specifically ecological design.
These aspects are only part of this commentary however; other areas focus on the idea of wilderness, political economy, vocation, technology and human development.
David Orr's ability to connect such topics and contextualize them within the qualities of 'usefulness' is needed fundamentally.
He uncompromisingly subjects dominant current (and lesser-discussed, but possible) beliefs, paradigms, technologies and techniques, to the questions:
"What good is it, are they? How does it/do they influence us? How does it/do they inform our actions? Does this further our best intentions? How does this influence the prospects of life now and in the future?"

Never before has such scrutiny been so necessary, and I have found no more enlightening and pragmatic commentary than that offered by David Orr. This book should raise the bar for others in the many fields of sustainability to broaden, deepen and connect these concepts further, and soon.

The New Village Green is a collection of essays and quotes meant to be read at different times, whenever the need for inspiration arises. The organization of the readings may confuse the reader who expects a story from start to finish, but like the snippets of conversation one hears in their own village green, this book is like being in the midst of a gathering of folks who all have different stories to share. Stephen Morris provides a comprehensive collection of the voices of the sustainability movement, with some old familiar faces and some new words of wisdom.

This is a great book for people who have been working within or intrigued with the sustainability movement who want a great bedside book to pick up now and then. The New Village Green is like fine wine, you'll want to have it in your collection on your bookshelf but to also keep it nearby so you can share it with friends.

I won't repeat the accurate comments of the other reviewers who gave this book 5 stars, but I wanted to add a few things.
This book is a broad collection of short essays (just right for my short attention span) on myriad topics from green building to the value of local foods, from green weddings to commuting by bicycle. Writers range from Dave Smith (Smith & Hawken) to Michael Pollen (actually, an interview with him) to Rachel Carson. Every few pages you're greeted by a new topic, a new author, a new set of ideas, and frequent side-bar quotes and recommendations for further reading.
This an enjoyable book for anyone interested in learning more about the planet and new (and not-so-new) ways to live sustainably.
Highly recommended!

It is a unique occasion when one feels they are making a connection with our planet's current heroes. For that I say many thanks to Stephen Morris and the Editors of the Green Living Journal.

By including writings by or on Rachel Carson, Euell Gibbons, Lynn Margulis, and Dan Chiras, The New Village Green has the beginnings of a new kind of encyclopedia. Drawn from wisdom already in print and requiring only reprint rights its' essays will challenge you, enlighten you, and remind you: we are all in this together. Whatever area of our cosmos you inhabit, caring for it and yourself is our best bet for not making the "what became extinct in the 21st century" list.

Arrived at after viewing pictures of the Earth from space concepts like James Lovelock's Gaia Theory, Masanobu Fukuoka's One Straw Revolution,and Bill McKibben's book The End of Nature which explained climate change to a mass audience, have been around awhile. Presenting them along with the new thoughts of Tamsyn Jones on the importance of soil and Eben Fodor's ideas on solar food drying shows the wide variety of essayists and brilliant choices by the editors.

And while you are also learning about corn moons, magical flocks, Salt Spring Island dollars, and eco-hoods, begin to think of all the places that could use a copy of this book. It's one of the cheapest ways out there to get those around us excited about the possibilities it puts forth about regaining the balance we once enjoyed on our planet.

Too many books today tell us what's wrong in the world without offering real, practical solutions. Morris has brought together many different voices and perspectives on all manner of topics, each shining a bright light down a path already cleared to the New Village Green. The variety of voices and subjects makes every page fresh.
This book is inspirational, enlightening, and fun to read. It offers solutions to the worldly woes we like to ignore, and shows us what's going right!

He always had that special talent of being able to see things in in a way that not everyone could-but somehow he would make you see it and appreciate it. "The world is round and the place which may seem like the end is only the beginning."I.Bakerpriest So many words,so much to do,so little done,such things to be." A.L. Tennyson "A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul." Proverbs 13:19 CONGRATULATIONS!!! Love,mom

It takes a lot of guts to put forth the effort to compile a book. It takes even more to put the work to task and self-publish. It's all on your back at that point, the success or failure. And you really have to believe in the promise of your work to hedge one over the other.

Luckily for Mr. Taylor, NMAZCA shows extraordinary promise. It's a strinking assemblage of 36 photos that point the reader toward the atmosphere and experience of place and the frame of mind. Some photodocumentations by other artists successfully acheive for us a sense of location or allow us to make an inventory of items in that location, but Mr. Taylor sets his sights on acheiving photographic poetry and acheives it in stunning hues. Which makes this book even more remarkable: it's a self-published work of full-color photography, and the works are remarkably well-rendered in lush tones.

Ultimately, I think NMAZCA points us to, and asks us to evaluate, something about each of us as island selves. But that's just me. It's a work of exceptional breadth and flow - one image informing and presupposing the next - but also one of great intimacy. The viewer is asked to involve him/herself with, to come to an understanding of, ripples in the desert sand, the ragged lilt of a twisting root, the shadowy creases of rocks and feathery plateaus of their attached lichens, the subtle topographies the sun traces as it arcs its paths through our skies.

Think of each photograph as little haikus. And buy this cool, courageous book.

nmazca's pages offer unusual,vivid photographs of the western United States. They please the eye, and the "Ideas" narrative at the back of this book allows the reader to understand Damon Taylor's unique talent for capturing such beauty with his camera. This little collection leaves one wishing for more pages to turn.

Well, I gotta tell you I haven't actually seen the book per se but yes, I have seen the work of Damon Taylor and must say that wow he has some cool pictures. I have seen many of these in the past...actually, I always dig through them when he shows them to me and I never see really cute and adorable pictures of me, y'know the lighting would be too low or my Mel Brooks side would show instead of my Mel Gibson side so I kinda lose interest...but wow he has had lovely pictures from the glorious southwest that he showed me at the time he took them so yeah, they are great and the book, if it contains pictures like those, well all you rock fans, this really would ROCK YOUR WORLD! Tell all your friends!

Written by an MD Nurture Nature Nurture Health is what I hoped: A book that outlines the toxins contributing to all sorts of health problems and practical tips on how to minimize them, how to detoxify, and how to boost the immune system.The section on what you can do and the resources are amazing.I will use this book forever!

This book is a true blessing for the planet and those of us who live on it. A guide on the link between our lifestyle and diseases of the earth and ourselves.1 in 3 Americans will develop cancer, 17% of US children have either a learning, emotional, or developmental disorder, and 1 in 7 womwen develop breast cancer today when in 1969 it was 1 in 22. If you want to know the TRUTH and what you can do--read this book!

I purchased this book after seeing the author on Fox and Friends. It definitely opened my eyes to the types of chemicals and toxins that are in our environment that ultimately end up in our bodies. As a nursing mother of a 5 month old I was pleased to learn steps I can take to keep our home and myself less toxic with the ultimate goal of keeping my baby healthy for years to come.

The book does seem to be repetitive at times and can be a bit daunting only due to the large chemical words constantly used- but how can you get around that. I was hoping there would be more info on how to detoxify our bodies besides eating vegetables and fruits washed down with some green tea. It does have a great reference section. With this book and a website - the green guide- I learned about in the book, I have already started making changes around our house. Just today I was looking at the ingredients in my son's sunscreen and found that it has chemicals that has shown to affect the development of the brain and reproductive organs in laboratory rats! Needless to say I found a much safer sunscreen. I also found that my shampoo and conditioner has one of the "7 Ugly Ingredients to Avoid in Personal Care Products"

Overall it is very educational, eye opening, and if you are looking to improve your health I highly recommend this book.

Dr. Gaynor's newest book takes up where Dr. Gaynor's Cancer Prevention Program left off. I was amazed at the science showing not only how toxins are found in places I'd never have guessed(eg.some lipsticks have lead) but that safe alternatives exist for all of them.The roster of famous MDs who endorsed the book reads like a Whose Who--Dr Mehmet Oz(You- The Owner's Manuel), Dr Michael Osborne(President of Strang Cancer Prevention Center),Dr Mimi Guarnieri(Scripps Institute),Dr William Rhea( environmental medicine specialist).That's good enough for me.

This book provides an incredible example of an agency failing to follow its own mandate as well as ignoring the will of the public. For several decades, the National Park Service (NPS) not only allowed, but encouraged, loggers to cut down old-growth forest inside Olympic National Park. It also fought to reduce the boundaries of that park to increase the amount of timber available to the local logging industry. Even when found out, important people in the NPS remained determined to cut down the old-growth timber in the park wherever it thought local sawmills would benefit, and on any land that the NPS didn't want in the first place.

When I had first heard this story, it was presented as a couple of loose cannons getting away with tree murder. However, Lien's book provides so many smoking guns - - or should I say, "smoking chainsaws" - - that there is an obvious policy problem here.

Lien's ultimate explanation of this history remains somewhat unsatisfactory to me. He argues that the NPS has a weak management culture and unclear mandate (both true) and that it is also eager to compromise with anyone who makes demands on it - - including loggers looking for old-growth timber. I'm not sure that wimpy acquiescence is the dominant NPS norm, since it does resist certain types of demands, such as those of horse outfitters, hunters, and in some parks, mountaineers. The case of hunters is particularly interesting, since elk hunting in Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain, bison hunting in Yellowstone, and deer hunting in many eastern battlefield parks would solve a number of other policy problems, and there *is* public demand for such hunting. So, the NPS doesn't simply acquiesce to everybody, and that part of Lien's argument can't be right.

Lien grounds this story in a brief history of the U.S. Forest Service and the NPS, and how Pinchot's "conservation" eventually alienated preservationists such as John Muir and public opinion more generally. These chapters provide, at best, an unconventional history of the USFS and NPS in the Progressive era. I think Lien overstates the preservationist element of public opinion, and is too eager to see preservationism even among the elites of the Theodore Roosevelt era.

Criticisms aside, this is one of the most remarkable national park histories out there.

A rare and wonderful animal(not extinct after all), that holds secrets to cures, anti-venoms and facts behind unsolved mysteries has reappeared! Not long ago I encountered and purchased "Olympic Battleground" at a rare book store. It was out of print. No longer. It took but the first few pages to have me swallowing bile and bouncing hard objects off walls. So inflaming was the tale that it awakened an activism in me I had not felt since the Viet Nam War days. I sought out and interviewed the author who assured me that it had taken almost thirty years to write. Battleground is destined to become the definitive source in four areas: 1) It is a complete history of Olympic National Park(and indeed the founding of all National Parks),beginning in 1895 and now updated to today. Sound dull? Uh uh, not with the kind of intrigue, fraud, scheming and plotting that underlay the movements to keep the old growth timber OUT of the Park, ventures often aided and abetted by the very public servants whose jobs were to PROTECT it. It should be mentioned that the entire book is documented with painstaking primary sources. What happened and how it happened is inarguable; the barrels are smoking. WE BEEN ROBBED! Yo, to the tune of billions and billions of dollars of assets. 2) There is a treatise here of decades of activism. But for the lifelong battling of a core of three people;fighting against power and unrelenting greed, this book convinces us that there would not be one tree left standing. It is the definitive tale, the tangible proof of just how mighty is 'the power of the pen'. No advocate person or group should have a bookshelf without this book on it. 3) Were there any congressional investigative committees with the bajoongas to take on the timber companies,local politicians and even the Park Service itself, Mr. Lein's book would be the place to start. Inditements lie there in wait! 4) Fail not to hear the warning: ye who would protect and preserve our national Parks, wilderness areas, monuments and wildlife reserves. Pass over this book at peril to their future existence. Beware by learning how boundaries shift in the night and legal wording gets shuffled and forests vanish with the turn of a phrase and promise . The very words are in place in even the newest documents of our "roadless areas" and "forest reserves". For anyone with 'green' agendas, in fact, any kind of activist intentions, this book is an absolute must.

Mr. Lien's book is one of the most thoroughly researched works on the state of national parks in America. His experience working at Olympic National Park, and serving as a sort of intern with Mrs. Edge gives us a rare insight into many of the personalities that shaped - and continue to influence - the fate of OLYM. Mr. Lien's documentation is highly impressive. However, I'm concerned that his passion for the park - and his apparently wholesale mistrust of the National Park Service - has lead to some critical mistakes.
For example, Stephen Mather was chosen "on the personal whim" of Secretary Franklin Lane. Lane knew more about Mather than Lien claims. Mather should hardly be remembered as "Saint Stephen" as so many in the NPS are anxious to do, but to dismiss him as someone chosen so cavalierly as Lien suggests is a dangerous underestimation of the man.
Second, it is unfair of Lien to put former NPS Director Newton Drury in essentially the same category as Fred Overly. Drury's tenure was that of a caretaker, and though his legislative skills were nil and his administrative abilities only slightly better, his focus and his integrity are things for which we should all be grateful. Drury was an outsider and he fought the good ol' boys: Overly, Albright and Wirth, to bring some measure of scientific integrity and conservation ethic to a deeply troubled park service.
Lien's breadth of scholarship is impressive. Unfortunately, his passion - while inspiring and insightful at times - has clouded his interpretation of early NPS history, and of the role of Newton Drury, a devoted, if sometimes uninspiring, conservationist.

I read this book shortly after spending several months on Washington's Olympic Peninsula and hiking in the Olympic Mountains of Olympic National Park in 1993. I own the first edition when it was published by Sierra Club Books. In my opinion Olympic Battleground is one of the most important works relative to the environemntal movement, on par with "Silent Spring" and "A Sand County Almanac," though it is relatively unknown.

Lien tells the story of the Olympic Peninsula and how it was systematically logged by people of European descent in the late 19th century, through the creation of ONP in 1937, and the management of ONP through the 1950s (when Lien was there as a seasonal ranger) and beyond. Tells the story of how one overzealous development minded ONP manager named Fred Overly enthusiastically allowed LOGGING in the park. And not just salvaging downed trees off trails and roads, but systematically cutting the largest old-growth Douglas-fir trees that could be found! Later talking to a ranger at ONP, I learned that Overly also coached the supervisor of Mount Rainier National Park on how to get the cut out of that park as well. There is correspondance on record of this happening.

Olympic Battleground demonstrates that we can never be complacent, that the only way we will be able to preserve our most significant natural areas is through eternal vigilance. Lien's book recounts that during WW II, "patriotic" timber barons attempted to log ONP to "aid the war effort." Thankfully that initiative was thwarted. Olympic Batleground should be read by everyone interested in preserving National Park land, National Forest land, federal Wilderness Areas, etc. We should know our history.