It's no accident that the cover of the paperback edition features the famous Albert Bierstadt painting "Hetch-Hetchy Valley, California," which was famously destroyed and flooded to create a reservoir to provide drinking water for San Francisco, which was experiencing exponential growth in the wake of the California Gold Rush. Sometimes described as "Yosemite's twin," Bierstadt painted this stunning landscape in the late nineteenth century (ca. 1874-1880), which, in the days before color photographs, is one of the only remnants of how the valley appeared before its inundation. This event is considered one of the greatest losses and most significant defeats in the history of environmental activism. This novel, however, focuses on an individual who was largely responsible for preventing more of them.
One of the most influential works of twentieth-century environmental literature, this unique narrative, essentially a biography-horse-of-a-different-color, began its life as a spotlight on early environmental activist David Brower, often described as the bane of the Department of the Interior. John McPhee had previously featured him in a "New Yorker" piece, which eventually evolved into this much-praised work, which adroitly and succinctly highlights the debates surrounding the positions of the figures herein: Brower, and three other well-known (and much maligned) figures: Charles Park, a geologist whose lust for minerals would leave no mine un-dug or mountain un-blasted in his unceasing quest for copper, et al.; Charles Fraser, a Trump-esque real estate tycoon and resort developer, who is responsible for the title of the book, in fact - he regarded all conservationists as "druids" who engage in human sacrifice - at least the sacrifice of human welfare - and worship trees; and former Secretary of the Interior Floyd Dominy, Brower's arch-nemesis, who headed the Glen Canyon Dam project, and who was hungry for still more projects of its kind.
Born in Berkeley, California (of course!) in 1912, David Ross Brower, the Archdruid himself, has been placed in the same camp as environmental-activist luminaries such as John Muir and Rachel Carson. Brower is credited with single-handedly preventing the construction of a dam which would have destroyed significant sections of the Grand Canyon, so perhaps the comparison is an apt one. His death in 2000, at age 88, did nothing to diminish his legacy, which lives on and thrives, predominantly through his writings and the multiple environmental organizations he founded, most prominent of which include Friends of the Earth (1969), the Earth Island Institute (1982), and the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies. Brower also served as the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club, from 1952 to 1969. During his tenure, the club's membership ballooned from a reported seven thousand to more than seventy thousand members, becoming the foremost environmental membership/activist organization in the US. He was also instrumental in the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964.
Brower first became interested in environmental issues through his experiences as an elite mountaineer - he is credited with seventy first-ascents, including Shiprock, in the area of the Navajo Nation (New Mexico) in 1939, after twelve previous attempts had failed. Brower served in the 10th Mountain Division during World War II, reportedly earning a Bronze Star for action in Italy, and then as a major in the Army Reserve for many years thereafter, while working at the University of California Press. In 1946, he became affiliated with the Sierra Club, serving as an editor for the"Sierra Club Bulletin" where he also became involved in efforts to prevent the Echo Park Dam from inundating much of Dinosaur National Monument in Utah.
The biography-cum-novel is comprised of three parts, wherein the formidable Brower takes on the equally-formidable figures above. It's essentially a snapshot of some of the foremost environmental issues of the mid-twentieth century, decisions about which still affect us a half-century later. Resource use (and overuse), population, conservation and development all feature prominently, all of which are issues with which we still contend today. Population pressures and environmental degradation, particularly issues surrounding water accessibility, certainly play a leading role in highly contentious immigration issues which appear in the headlines on a near-daily basis. In some other respects, the book is eerily prophetic: in the first section, Park notes that seven billion people would populate the earth by the year 2000, a prediction which actually came to pass in about 2011. Baby Six Billion was born in Bosnia in 1999; we added an extra billion people in just about a decade. Brower also cites his belief that the years to come would see a "massive pestilence." Timely reading, indeed.
Some have criticized McPhee's writing style, which has been termed "creative non-fiction" for the manner in which the author takes actual figures and has them interact in dialogue with each other, in the actual settings about which they disagree, based on both their actual statements and those which involve some "poetic license." However, the novel very effectively presents the arguments and positions of each in an engaging way, which brings the material to an audience which would likely be disinclined to read about them otherwise.
Rather than just summarize each of the three sections, as per my usual practice, I will simply include some of the most pertinent passages below. This is a book well worth reading, even more so considering the issues with which we are currently contending. At times inspiring, at times terrifying, it continues to influence generations of readers, bringing the issues of the past into the light of the present.
IMPORTANT PASSAGES
"Without copper, we'd be in a pretty sorry situation."
"If that deposit didn't exist, we'd get by without it."
"I would prefer the mountain as it is, but the copper is there."
"All these people certainly diminish the wilderness experience, but I've seen crowds in wilderness before. I know that they'll go away, and when they go they haven't really left anything."
"We're not so poor that we have to spend our wilderness or so rich that we can afford to. That kind of boxes it nicely. Newton Drury said it."
One of the most influential works of twentieth-century environmental literature, this unique narrative, essentially a biography-horse-of-a-different-color, began its life as a spotlight on early environmental activist David Brower, often described as the bane of the Department of the Interior. John McPhee had previously featured him in a "New Yorker" piece, which eventually evolved into this much-praised work, which adroitly and succinctly highlights the debates surrounding the positions of the figures herein: Brower, and three other well-known (and much maligned) figures: Charles Park, a geologist whose lust for minerals would leave no mine un-dug or mountain un-blasted in his unceasing quest for copper, et al.; Charles Fraser, a Trump-esque real estate tycoon and resort developer, who is responsible for the title of the book, in fact - he regarded all conservationists as "druids" who engage in human sacrifice - at least the sacrifice of human welfare - and worship trees; and former Secretary of the Interior Floyd Dominy, Brower's arch-nemesis, who headed the Glen Canyon Dam project, and who was hungry for still more projects of its kind.
Born in Berkeley, California (of course!) in 1912, David Ross Brower, the Archdruid himself, has been placed in the same camp as environmental-activist luminaries such as John Muir and Rachel Carson. Brower is credited with single-handedly preventing the construction of a dam which would have destroyed significant sections of the Grand Canyon, so perhaps the comparison is an apt one. His death in 2000, at age 88, did nothing to diminish his legacy, which lives on and thrives, predominantly through his writings and the multiple environmental organizations he founded, most prominent of which include Friends of the Earth (1969), the Earth Island Institute (1982), and the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies. Brower also served as the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club, from 1952 to 1969. During his tenure, the club's membership ballooned from a reported seven thousand to more than seventy thousand members, becoming the foremost environmental membership/activist organization in the US. He was also instrumental in the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964.
Brower first became interested in environmental issues through his experiences as an elite mountaineer - he is credited with seventy first-ascents, including Shiprock, in the area of the Navajo Nation (New Mexico) in 1939, after twelve previous attempts had failed. Brower served in the 10th Mountain Division during World War II, reportedly earning a Bronze Star for action in Italy, and then as a major in the Army Reserve for many years thereafter, while working at the University of California Press. In 1946, he became affiliated with the Sierra Club, serving as an editor for the"Sierra Club Bulletin" where he also became involved in efforts to prevent the Echo Park Dam from inundating much of Dinosaur National Monument in Utah.
The biography-cum-novel is comprised of three parts, wherein the formidable Brower takes on the equally-formidable figures above. It's essentially a snapshot of some of the foremost environmental issues of the mid-twentieth century, decisions about which still affect us a half-century later. Resource use (and overuse), population, conservation and development all feature prominently, all of which are issues with which we still contend today. Population pressures and environmental degradation, particularly issues surrounding water accessibility, certainly play a leading role in highly contentious immigration issues which appear in the headlines on a near-daily basis. In some other respects, the book is eerily prophetic: in the first section, Park notes that seven billion people would populate the earth by the year 2000, a prediction which actually came to pass in about 2011. Baby Six Billion was born in Bosnia in 1999; we added an extra billion people in just about a decade. Brower also cites his belief that the years to come would see a "massive pestilence." Timely reading, indeed.
Some have criticized McPhee's writing style, which has been termed "creative non-fiction" for the manner in which the author takes actual figures and has them interact in dialogue with each other, in the actual settings about which they disagree, based on both their actual statements and those which involve some "poetic license." However, the novel very effectively presents the arguments and positions of each in an engaging way, which brings the material to an audience which would likely be disinclined to read about them otherwise.
Rather than just summarize each of the three sections, as per my usual practice, I will simply include some of the most pertinent passages below. This is a book well worth reading, even more so considering the issues with which we are currently contending. At times inspiring, at times terrifying, it continues to influence generations of readers, bringing the issues of the past into the light of the present.
IMPORTANT PASSAGES
"Without copper, we'd be in a pretty sorry situation."
"If that deposit didn't exist, we'd get by without it."
"I would prefer the mountain as it is, but the copper is there."
"All these people certainly diminish the wilderness experience, but I've seen crowds in wilderness before. I know that they'll go away, and when they go they haven't really left anything."
"We're not so poor that we have to spend our wilderness or so rich that we can afford to. That kind of boxes it nicely. Newton Drury said it."
Excellent nature essayist.
