Product Description

A study of America's grass-roots battle to save the country's natural resources traces the history of the environmental movement and profiles such key figures as Lois Gibbs, the Love Canal crusader, and John McPhee's archdruid, David Brower. 20,000 first printing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #266353 in Books
• Published on: 1993-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 496 pages

From Publishers Weekly
April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day, saw the largest demonstration in U.S. history; 20 million people took to the streets. Eight years earlier, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring had alerted Americans to environmental destruction. Here Redmond, managing editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian , and freelance journalist Mowrey review major events of the environmental movement in the past two decades. These include the nuclear threat of Three Mile Island, the toxic poisoning near the Love Canal and the environmental impact of the West Side Highway in New York City. Also covered are the efforts of ecological saboteurs, outraged housewives tracking toxic dumps and other grassroot activists. Readers may be surprised to learn that in 1991, then-Senator Al Gore cast the deciding vote to block the repeal of the 1872 General Mining Law, and that David Souter, then New Hampshire Attorney General, was accused, though not charged, with improper activities in prosecuting the Clamshell Alliance (1977-78). This is a lively account of struggles to protect and improve the environment since the first Earth Day.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Journalists Mowrey and Redmond offer a chronology of the environmental movement beginning with the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969 and concluding with the 1992 election of Al Gore, an environmentalist, as U.S. vice president. The 11 chapters are composed of vignettes telling the story of people who took action and consequently made a difference. The famous, the infamous, and the unknown fill the pages of this readable, inspirational addition to the shelf of environmental books. Recommended for public libraries and anyone interested in the Not in My Backyard movement. This one is a winner. For another environmental history, see Kirkpatrick Sale's The Green Revolution: The American Environmental Movement, 1962-1992 , LJ 7/93.--Ed.
- Patricia Owens, Wabash Valley Coll., Mt. Carmel, Ill.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In their straightforward account of the major events in the environmental movement from 1969 to 1990, Mowrey and Redmond clearly define and present the conflict between America's romance with the environment and its romance with industrial and economic development. Each chapter focuses on an individual who battled with the powers that be over the "right" to a clean environment. This approach personalizes the overall problem while emphasizing the grass-roots nature of its solution so far. Some of those portrayed are politicians and scientists--such as former senator Gaylord Nelson and atmospheric researcher Joe Farman, who discovered the impact of chlorofluorocarbons on the ozone. Some are housewives and concerned neighbors--such as Lois Gibbs of Love Canal and Cecil Garland, who fought against mining in Lincoln, Montana. Despite the differences in their backgrounds and approaches, all these warriors fight the same enemy--the political power of the industries causing pollution. Lindsay Throm

Customer Reviews

A must read for all interested in the Environmental Movement
Not in Our Backyard, is an excellent book that highlights many of the lesser-known characters and events that comprise the U.S. Environmental Movement. Tim Redmond and Marc Mowrey have crafted a culmination of intriguing and exciting stories that detail the formulation of what would ultimately become a force to be reckoned with: The Environmental Movement.

In a time when we are losing our giants of the movement including David Brower, Marc Reisner and countless others, Not in Our Backyard brings forth insight and intelligence, ultimately proving that individual citizens can make profound contributions to worthwhile causes. As a student of environmental history and someone who has read numerous books on the subject, I can say with certainty that this is my favorite book by far on the subject.

Written in a journalistic style, the book consists of numerous short chapters that focus on a diverse cast of people, places, and events that changed the course and helped define the environmental movement. Although over 400 pages long, the book reads extremely fast and is difficult to put down. I highly recommend that anyone interested in Environmental History seek out this out-of-print book and read it, you won't regret it.