Forcing the Spring: The Transformation Of The American Environmental Movement

by Robert Gottlieb

Forcing the Spring challenges standard histories of the environmental movement by offering a broad and inclusive interpretation of past environmentalist thought and a sweeping redefinition of the nature of the contemporary environmental movement. Robert Gottlieb demonstrates the centrality of environmental concerns to a wide range of social movements of the past century as he explores the connections between pressures on human and natural environments and the role of these pressures in shaping society. His analysis provides fundamental new insights into the past and future of the American environmental movement by placing it within the larger context of American social history. After considering the historical roots of environmentalism from the 1890s through the 1960s, Gottlieb discusses the rise and consolidation of environmental groups in the years between Earth Day 1970 and Earth Day 1990. He examines the increasing professionalization of the major environmental organizations and the parallel rise of community-based groups over the past decade, and ends with an in-depth consideration of the role of ethnicity, gender, and class in the formation and definition of movements.

Genres: Environment, Nonfiction, History

423 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1993

About the author

Professor of Urban & Environmental Policy, Emeritus, Occidental College.

Reviews

[Hana Vizcarra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the 2005 revised edition. An essential read for anyone working in environmental law, policy, advocacy, or organizing that provides an excellent overview of the history of various strains within the environmental "movement".

[Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to the history of environmental groups and the problems they have faced over the years. Alice Hamilton is a great new addition to the soldiers of the environmental movement and I think Gottlieb builds a really strong connection with other social activist history and highlights the parallels between them.

[Eric Zandona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gottlieb's primary contribution is his discussion on the exclusion of urban anti-pollution/toxic reformers have been left out of the broader history of US environmental movements.