-
Access Our
Most Anticipated
Books of 2025!
And Sketches Here and There
by Aldo Leopold
Book Reviewed by:Few books have had a greater impact than A Sand County Almanac, which many credit with launching a revolution in land management.
Written as a series of sketches based principally upon the flora and fauna in a rural part of Wisconsin, the book, originally published by Oxford in 1949, gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; a final section addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation. Beloved for its description and evocation of the natural world, Leopold's book, which has sold well over 2 million copies, remains a foundational text in environmental science and a national treasure.
The problem of removing apex predators like wolves and grizzly bears, and the long destructive march of habitat loss in all North American regions, are chronicled with sadness but loving memories, like in any good eulogy. Leopold was also one of the first writers to capture the paradox of creating parks to conserve wilderness that then becomes overdeveloped and overcrowded: "Parks are made to bring the music to the many, but by the time many are attuned to hear it there is little left but noise." Leopold articulates his concerns about how we perceive and interact with the land, and he argues that wilderness is valuable not because of anything humanity gets from it, but just for its own sake. This "land ethic" that he calls for will sound familiar to today's readers, as heirs of the environmental movement and victims of climate change. But in the context of the breakneck growth of the American economy of the mid-20th century, this was a revolutionary re-thinking of humanity's relationship with nature: that landscapes and living things should be treated with respect, not as resources for economic gain...continued
Full Review
(906 words)
(Reviewed by Rose Rankin).
When we think about how pioneers changed the American frontier — or if we think about it — we may picture the hunting of bison herds as one of the biggest environmental changes wrought by settlers. The grainy photographs of thousands upon thousands of bison skulls piled unimaginably high, a near-extermination that seems mind-bogglingly cruel and ill-considered.
But extinction of the bison was caught in time, and today there are still herds roaming the Great Plains, albeit in very reduced numbers. A much less-known destruction that was even more massive and permanent was that of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) in the second half of the 19th century.
In his seminal environmental book, A Sand County Almanac...
If you liked A Sand County Almanac, try these:
by Ben Goldfarb
Published 2024
An eye-opening account of the global ecological transformations wrought by roads, from the award-winning author of Eager.
by Ferris Jabr
Published 2024
A vivid account of a major shift in how we understand Earth, from an exceptionally talented new voice. Earth is not simply an inanimate planet on which life evolved, but rather a planet that came to life.
It was one of the worst speeches I ever heard ... when a simple apology was all that was required.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
