**10 Favorites from our Bookstore**

1.  ***Man and Nature,* George Perkins Marsh**

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> height="1.2395833333333333in"}
>
> From Amazon.com - George Perkins Marsh\'s *Man and Nature* was the
> first book to attack the American myth of the superabundance and the
> inexhaustibility of the earth. It was, as Lewis Mumford said, \"the
> fountainhead of the conservation movement,\" and few books since have
> had such an influence on the way men view and use land. \"It is worth
> reading after a hundred years,\" Mr. Lowenthal points out, \"not only
> because it taught important lessons in its day, but also because it
> still teaches them so well\...Historical insight and contemporary
> passion make *Man and Nature* an enduring classic.\"

2.  ***A Sand County Almanac,* Aldo Leopold**

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> From Amazon.com - Published in 1949, shortly after the author\'s
> death, *A Sand County Almanac* is a classic of nature writing, widely
> cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published.
> Writing from the vantage of his summer shack along the banks of the
> Wisconsin River, Leopold mixes essay, polemic, and memoir in his
> book\'s pages. In one famous episode, he writes of killing a female
> wolf early in his career as a forest ranger, coming upon his victim
> just as she was dying, \"in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in
> her eyes\.... I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought
> that because fewer wolves meant more deer, no wolves would mean
> hunters\' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that
> neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.\"
> Leopold\'s road-to-Damascus change of view would find its fruit some
> years later in his so-called land ethic, in which he held that nothing
> that disturbs the balance of nature is right. Much of *Almanac*
> elaborates on this basic premise, as well as on Leopold\'s view that
> it is something of a human duty to preserve as much wild land as
> possible, as a kind of bank for the biological future of all species.
> Beautifully written, quiet, and elegant, Leopold\'s book deserves
> continued study and discussion today.

3.  ***Silent Spring,* Rachel Carson**

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> From Amazon.com - *Silent Spring*, released in 1962, offered the first
> shattering look at widespread ecological degradation and touched off
> an environmental awareness that still exists. Rachel Carson\'s book
> focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other
> common products as well as the use of sprays in agriculture, a
> practice that led to dangerous chemicals to the food source. Carson
> argued that those chemicals were more dangerous than radiation and
> that for the first time in history, humans were exposed to chemicals
> that stayed in their systems from birth to death. Presented with
> thorough documentation, the book opened more than a few eyes about the
> dangers of the modern world and stands today as a landmark work.

4.  ***Reconstructing Conservation: Finding Common Ground*, edited by
    Ben**

> **Minteer and Robert Manning**

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> From Michael P. Nelson, *Environmental Ethics* Vol. 27, 2005 -- This
> book is proof that conservation stands at a crossroads. It is also
> proof that such a pivotal moment can be healthy and progressive rather
> than so much destructive devil-dealing. The editors have collected
> essays on the future of conservation from some of the best and
> brightest among us. The germ of the collection is a "ground-breaking"
> seminar held at the University of Vermont in 2001. The presenters at
> that seminar represent an array of impressive scholars from a huge
> variety of academic disciplines and conservation organizations: would
> that more seminars organized in such a fashion; would that more books
> were this interdisciplinary in nature.

5.  ***American Women Conservationists:* *Twelve Profile,* Madelyn
    Holmes**

> ![](media/image5.jpeg){width="1.0in" height="1.5in"}From book jacket -
> This collection of biographies describes twelve women conservationists
> who helped change the ways Americans interact with the natural
> environment. Their writings led Americans to think differently about
> their land---deserts are not wastelands, swamps have value, and
> harmful insects don't have to be controlled chemically. These women
> not only wrote on behalf of conservation of the American landscape but
> also described strategies for living exemplary, environmentally sound
> lives during the past century. From a bird lover to a \"back to the
> land\" activist, these women gave early warning of the detrimental
> effects of neglecting conservation.
>
> ***6. Hands on the Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape*, Jan
> Albers**
>
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>
> From book jacket -- Superbly illustrated, Albers' wide-ranging
> narrative explores how Vermont has come to stand as a national ideal
> of unspoiled rural community. Beginning with the relatively light
> touch of Vermont's Native Americans, she shows how European settlers
> -- armed with a conviction that their claim to the land was "a
> God-given right" -- began to shape the landscape both to meet economic
> needs and to satisfy philosophical beliefs. The often turbulent
> result: a conflict between practical requirements and romantic ideals
> that has persisted to the present day.

7.  ![](media/image7.jpeg){width="1.1354166666666667in"
    height="1.0055555555555555in"}***Reading the Forested Landscape:* *A
    Natural History of New England,* Tom Wessels**

> From book jacket - Landscape is much more than scenery to be observed
> or even terrain to be traveled, as this fascinating and many-layered
> book vividly shows us. Etched into the land is the history of how we
> have inhabited it, the storms and fires that have shaped it, and its
> response to these and other changes. An intrepid sleuth and articulate
> tutor, Wessels teaches us to read a landscape the way we might solve a
> mystery. What exactly is the meaning of all those stone walls in the
> middle of the forest? Why do beech and birch trees have smooth bark
> when the bark of all other northern species is rough? How do you tell
> the age of a beaver pond and determine if beavers still live there?
> Why are pine trees dominant in one patch of forest and maples in
> another? What happened to the American chestnut? Turn to this book for
> the answers, and no walk in the woods will ever be the same.

8.  ***An American Idea:* *The Making of the National Parks,* Kim
    Heacox**

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> height="1.2395833333333333in"}From book jacket - In *An American Idea:
> The Making of the National Parks,* Kim Heacox---winner of the Benjamin
> Franklin Nature Book Award, and twice winner of the Lowell Thomas
> Award for excellence in travel journalism---explores the development
> of our nation's environmental consciousness. Heacox depicts the
> remarkable feats accomplished by dedicated people, from Lewis and
> Clark and Henry David Thoreau to John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt.
> Delving into original sources that date back to the 1600s, he pieces
> together an inspirational story peopled with such fascinating
> characters as young artist Thomas Moran, whose stunning landscapes of
> Yellowstone compelled Congress to deem it the first national park, and
> John Wesley Powell, the one-armed Civil War officer who first mapped
> the Grand Canyon. Enhanced by a portfolio of Ansel Adam's photography,
> commissioned in the 1940s by the Department of the Interior to bring
> the beauty of the parklands to greater public awareness, *An American
> Idea: The Making of the National Parks* is a literary and visual
> treasure. Through compelling text enriched with stunning photographs,
> maps, and paintings---many of which have never been seen---this volume
> gives three centuries of American history an original and unexpected
> twist.

9.  ***A Word for Nature:* *Four Pioneering Environmental Advocates,*
    Robert Dorman**

> ![](media/image9.jpeg){width="0.8958333333333334in"
> height="1.4583333333333333in"}From Corinne Smith - Dorman explores the
> origins of American conservation and environmentalism by studying four
> key men of the nineteenth century - George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882),
> Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), John Muir (1838-1914), and John
> Wesley Powell (1834-1902). Thoreau and Muir appear often in works of
> this kind, and Powell is occasionally added and is best known for his
> trip down the Colorado River and into the Grand Canyon. But what of
> Marsh? This Vermont lawyer, legislator, and industrialist published
> the book, *Man and Nature* in 1864. His travels to Europe and the
> Middle East were part of his enlightenment into the relationship
> between humans and Nature. He was one of the first individuals to
> admit that \"all nature is linked together by invisible bonds\" and to
> see man as a \"destructive power\" in the scenario. He recommended
> restoration efforts for the rampant deforestation in the northeastern
> America of the mid-1800s and suggested governmental control of such an
> endeavor, in spite of that institution\'s many failings. For the
> biography of Marsh alone, Dorman\'s book is worthwhile reading. But
> even if you think you already know the basics about the other three
> personalities, you\'ll learn something new here. Dorman doesn\'t just
> rehash old information; he provides a fresh interpretation of their
> contributions, illustrating the societal influences that formed their
> belief systems, and connecting each man to at least one of the other
> three at least once. A good addition to the 21st-century
> environmentalist\'s bookshelf.

10. ***Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature,* William
    Cronon**

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> From Library Journal - In this thought-provoking collection of essays
> edited by environmental historian William Cronon, scholars such as
> Carolyn Merchant, Richard White, Kenneth Olwig, Donna Haraway, and
> others \"contribute to an ongoing dialog about the environment.\" The
> book has its roots in an interdisciplinary seminar on \"Reinventing
> Nature,\" held at the University of California, Irvine\'s Humanities
> Research Institute in 1994. This work explores our ideas of nature in
> a cultural context, for \"if we hope for an environmentalism capable
> of explaining why people abuse the earth as they do, then the nature
> we study most become less natural and more cultural.\" By using
> materials such as photographs, advertisements, and paintings (termed
> \"found objects\" by Haraway) to stimulate fresh ways of viewing and
> responding to nature, the group has produced an enlightening work that
> challenges our very ideas of the natural world. Highly recommended.