Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy: The Activist Who Saved Nature from the Conservationists

by Dyana Z. Furmansky, Bill McKibben (Foreword), Roland C. Clement (Afterword)

Rosalie Edge (1877-1962) was the first American woman to achieve national renown as a conservationist. Dyana Z. Furmansky draws on Edge’s personal papers and on interviews with family members and associates to portray an implacable, indomitable personality whose activism earned her the names “Joan of Arc” and “hellcat.” A progressive New York socialite and veteran suffragist, Edge did not join the conservation movement until her early fifties. Nonetheless, her legacy of achievements--called "widespread and monumental" by the New Yorker--forms a crucial link between the eras defined by John Muir and Rachel Carson. An early voice against the indiscriminate use of toxins and pesticides, Edge reported evidence about the dangers of DDT fourteen years before Carson's Silent Spring was published.Today, Edge is most widely remembered for establishing Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, the world's first refuge for birds of prey. Founded in 1934 and located in eastern Pennsylvania, Hawk Mountain was cited in Silent Spring as an "especially significant" source of data. In 1930, Edge formed the militant Emergency Conservation Committee, which not only railed against the complacency of the Bureau of Biological Survey, Audubon Society, U.S. Forest Service, and other stewardship organizations but also exposed the complicity of some in the squandering of our natural heritage. Edge played key roles in the establishment of Olympic and Kings Canyon National Parks and the expansion of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Filled with new insights into a tumultuous period in American conservation, this is the life story of an unforgettable individual whose work influenced the first generation of environmentalists, including the founders of the Wilderness Society, Nature Conservancy, and Environmental Defense Fund.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Natural History, Birds, Nature, Conservation, Biology

376 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2009

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written and inspiring biography that shows how much a determined and courageous person can accomplish. She not only headed the development of a sanctuary for hawks, a bird that didn't get a lot of sympathy in her time, but she also had a major role in creating Olympic National Park and expanding Yosemite to save trees. Even though she came into activism and her love and knowledge of birds later in her life, she was not intimated by those who were quick to characterize people like her as sentimental. Good for her for persisting.

[Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm more than a little appalled that I hadn't heard of Mabel Rosalie Edge until recently. She was a mover and shaker and firmly shook up the establishment to make some much-needed change. She changed attitudes and culture. We are still feeling the shock waves of her incredible life today.

This biography was dense and didn't skimp out on details. I enjoyed reading this. About halfway through, I had the realization that, in order to give such a detailed account, the author really had to submerse herself completely in not only Rosalie's life but also those around her. Her research must have been very organized and well rounded.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think 4.5 stars. I had a weird false start with this book, and I couldn’t get into it at all. I blame the flu. A week later, I picked it back up and felt entirely different – and I read nearly all of it in a weekend. I’m surprised and disappointed that I wasn’t familiar with Rosalie Edge prior to reading this book; she is such an incredible leader in the conservation movement. Rosalie was such a badass, and is hugely inspirational. I really enjoyed reading this book, and learning about all of the triumphs Rosalie achieved through her steely persistence, honesty, and toughness. If only she were here in 2017. Best summary of Rosalie: “She’s unique in the field. She’s the only honest, unselfish, indomitable hellcat in the history of conservation”.

One of my favorites in the Wildlife Center of Virginia's online book club: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3...

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it hard to get into the book but did enjoy it after I did. Learned a lot about someone I had never heard of before and all she did.

[Noelle M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a biography of Mable Rosalie Edge, a former suffragette turned early conservationist. She was the daughter of John Wylie Barrow, a wealthy accountant who was the cousin of Charles Dickens. She grew up knowing the Vanderbilts, often relying on their charity because when her father died he failed to give his wife part ownership of his company, and the wealth of the family dramatically declined. She showed no particular interest in birds or nature as a child. She later traveled to Japan to marry her fiancé Charles Noel Edge, at an age older than most women of her time married. As they traversed through Asia, she appreciated some of its areas of wilderness, but again gave no indication of being a full-blown nature lover.

After years of traveling, she convinced Charles to move to New York rather than England. They bought a summer estate by the sea, and there she began to get into bird watching, and stopped hunting them with Charles. After 11 years of marriage, she then discovered that Charles had been cheating on her, and left him after he broke her arm when she confronted him about a certain letter she found. They remained legally separated for the rest of their lives. However, she was still very much in love with him, and never found anyone else.

Her work as a conservationist did not begin until she reached her 50s. She was moved by a pamphlet she received in the mail co-authored by someone named Willard Van Name, an ornithologist who became concerned with the amount of bird hunting and corruption within the Audubon Society. The Audubon Society was taking vast amounts of money from hunting groups, some of which went directly to the salary of its director, and was only interested in preserving species that could be hunted. The predators of species commonly hunted, such as bald eagles, were allowed to be ruthlessly hunted on their so-called wildlife reservations. The organization was also trapping animals like minks and selling their furs, while lying to the public about it. Van Name worked for the Museum of Natural History, and was essentially silenced when his bosses with connections to the Audubon Society threatened to fire him if he ever published something similar to the pamphlet again. With him as a mentor, Rosalie Edge took on the fight to change the Audubon Society. The Christian Science Monitor described her as, “...that peculiarly powerful being, an individual who has private means, who accepts no salary, no expenses, no gifts, and whose independent social position helps her to speak fearlessly and to act uncompromisingly.”

Some of the many things Edge accomplished over the span of 30 years were founding the Emergency Conservation Committee, creating Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, the first sanctuary formed with private funding, publishing pamphlets that exposed the corruption within various groups like the Audubon Society, U.S Forest Service, and National Parks Service, leading campaigns that led to the creation of the Olympic National Park and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park, persuading congress to restore big trees to Yosemite National Park after they had been illegally traded, and preventing Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone National Park from being diverted. She also sounded early warnings against DDT and kept hawk counts that were integral to Rachel Carson’s later research, and prevented trumpeter swans from going extinct.

Her founding of the Emergency Conservation Committee was particularly significant because it never became an official legal entity; it was run by her and van Name and one other person. It had the ability to go after any controversial issues without having to deal with the conflicting interests of a large board of directors. Eventually it gained a larger mailing list than the Audubon Society, and was essential in distributing information about various conservation campaigns to the public. Almost every other nationally organized conservation body was held hostage to wealthy sportsmen, gun companies, or lumbermen. Today few people know who Rosalie Edge was, but to many in her time she was, “without question the foremost woman conservationist of the twentieth century.” Arguably the foremost conservationist of the twentieth century, period, as most of the male conservationist were at some point corrupted in one way or another.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed learning about Rosale Edge, a pioneer in conservation. Moreover, it was eye opening to see how industry had such negative influence over attitudes and policies towards wildlife and trees. The book laid out how Edge was an effective activist and accomplished important "firsts" in protecting ecosystems. I wish Furmansky would have written a little more about the Audubon Society as it moved forward through the 20th century into the present since the prevailing theme of the book was that Edge butted heads with the society each step of the way.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting information about the history of the struggle to maintain the health of our forests and wildlife…. And the early years of Audubon and the NFS. But it could have been edited. Parts were a bit of a slog and reading about the elite got tiresome (and disturbing).

[Josh Friers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring

[Bob Stocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosalie Edge (1877-1962) was the little-known and unheralded mother of the modern conservation movement. She began life as the favorite child of an over-indulgent well-to-do father and developed into a conversationist only in late middle age. Her first significant conservation action was to question the propriety of National Association of Audubon Societies' close ties to ammunition manufactures and hunters when she was nearly 52 years old.

Dyana Furmansky's book about Edge develops slowly, too. The first two chapters about Edge's family background were almost dull enough to make me give the book a two star rating and move on to something else. I'm glad I persisted. Chapters about Edge's impact on the NAAS (now the National Audubon Society), her founding of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary to stop the brazen slaughter of raptors as they migrate through Pennsylvania, and her lobbying to create Olympic National Park and Kings Canyon National Park and to add 8,000 acres to old-growth sugar pines to Yosemite National Park were inspiring.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 1937 photo of Rosalie Edge dressed in a suit and hat with a red-tailed hawk perched on her arm provides a clue to readers they are about to read the story of a remarkable woman who was ahead of her time. Dyana Z. Furmansky tells the story of Rosalie Edge, a socialite, estranged wife, mother, suffragette, activist, bird enthusiastic and conservationist.

The Bottom Line

Using Rosalie’s personal papers, interviews with her children, and her own research, Ms. Furmansky brought Rosalie Edge to life for me. Rosalie was a prolific writer, editor, and distributor of information. She was tenacious, willing to talk with anyone who might help her achieve her goals, and seemed immune to criticism.

I recommend Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy to readers interested in birds, wildlife, nature, conservation, or activism. Fans of history or interesting woman will also enjoy the book.

Read the whole review at: http://greengroundswell.com/rosalie-e...

[Louise Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A formidable woman! That she established Hawk Mountain Sanctuary when most folks were still slaughtering hawks and other birds of prey, is enough to sing her praises. But to read of the many other battles for preservation and conservation of animals, trees and land is wonderful.

This book is filled with details and facts of meetings and Congressional hearings, so is somewhat slow to read, but well worth it.