The National Audubon Society: Speaking for Nature by Line, Les (editor) (2001) Hardcover

by Les Line

Copyright 1999 - Perfect condition, no marks, square boards. DJ in near fine condition with new mylar cover for additional protection. Book is exactly as pictured. My listing photo is of the inside page.

Genres: Nature

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Michael Constantine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enlightening. As a collection of essays focusing primarily on bird conservation in the United and secondarily on nature conservation as a whole this book has some exciting and somber stories to tell from the last century. It never strays from describing the legislature that needed to be passed to save public and private lands in the USA as advances in industry, chemistry, and the progression of American consumerism threatened or eradicated the plants and animals that have grown in the Americas since before the arrival of the Europeans. There is some surprising reach to the book as states from most corners of the USA get mentioned in some way; managing the water in the Everglades of Florida, the forests of Washington, the coasts of Maine, the burning river of Cleveland, and the arctic of Alaska. But back to my point, as a junior birder who was only 8 years old when this book was published, it's interesting to hear how some species became more protected than others and what has driven others into needing the endangered species act.

One essay did end with a weird potshot at hiphop music in Oakland instead of birdsong and that soured the particular author's intent in my mind.

The pictures are pretty great too.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not often that you run across a book that contains such a wealth of information on the "Conservation Movements's" history.

The National Audubon Society presents an absorbing text and a fantastic assemblage of wildlife images that "speak for nature"

What makes it interesting and understandable is the chapter breakdown of the last 100 years into decades:
1990s The age of extermination
1910s A common possession
1920s The war on varmints
1930s Gaining ground
1940s Big, beautiful and doomed
1950s The dawn of ecology
1960s Before Earth Day
1970s The shadow of Extinction
1980s Alaska's challenges
1990s The owl and the forest

Also of great interest is the chronology highlights of the 100 years of conservation.