Description
Book SynopsisIn this sweeping social history Dorceta E. Taylor examines the emergence and rise of the multi-faceted conservation movement from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, showing how race, class, and gender influenced its every aspect.
Trade Review"This book counterbalances previous hagiographic portrayals of conservationists, examining and judging the past from the perspective of modern values but minimizing the contributions of scientists not part of the establishment. Nevertheless, the book should interest historians and naturalists. . . . Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty." -- J. S. Schwartz * Choice *
"Taylor has produced an extremely helpful book that defines and contextualizes important laws, concepts, social groups, and people who participated, or were alienated by, the rising American conservation movement." -- Margaret DePond * Environmental History *
"An important addition to the historiography of the American conservation movement. . . . [Taylor's] synthesis of the ideas of the conservation movement, and the depth that she adds with her discussions of race and exclusion, in particular, make this work an important one for an understanding of the environmental history of the United States." -- Kimberly A. Jarvis * Journal of Social History *
"Taylor accomplishes a transformative feat of scholarship. . . . She has authored a book that challenges the dominant interpretive frameworks of the field of environmental history and deserves a central place in introductory and ntermediate environmental courses. Just as importantly, she illuminates the overlapping historical roots of our present environmental predicament." -- Jennifer Thomson * Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era *
"An ambitious book. . . . A useful reference to anyone interested in environmental protection, and particularly its social dimensions, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." -- Joshua M. Nygren * Agricultural History *
"Covers an astonishing range of topics. . . . [M]any of [Taylor's] profiles are fascinating and significant in bringing new characters and elements into the mix of America’s conservation record." -- David Havlick * American Historical Review *
"A well-written book. . . . Exceptional both in the manner of presentation and scope." -- Nathaniel Umukoro * Ethnic and Racial Studies *
"A wide-ranging work, invoking numerous themes and moving in many different directions. . . . A valuable contribution to the field by opening new areas of inquiry as to how the confluences of class, race and gender can inform both environmental and social history." -- Nathan Perz * History *
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The Rise of the American Conservation Movement shines when women like Sacagawea are described in ways that explode myths of the supposedly inherent connections among masculinity, ruggedness, and wilderness. . . . An excellent overview of the ACM." -- Robert Wengronowitz * International Sociology *
"Dorceta E. Taylor’s book is a very useful corrective to the common focus on a few 'great' conservation heroes, such as Gifford Pinchot and Theodore Roosevelt. It is also pleasing to see the role of women acknowledged in a deeper and more satisfactory way than in previous syntheses, though Taylor rightly points out the masculinist domination of much of the conservation activity she calls a 'movement.' This book succeeds best as a powerful critique of conservation’s ethnocentrism and class dimensions." -- Ian Tyrrell * Journal of American Studies *
"Taylor . . . highlights the effects of moralization on access to nature. She reveals the class, ethnoracial, and gender biases in these conservation movements and demonstrates their consequences: the exclusion of various minority populations and inequalities in the use and presence of, and public debate surrounding, natural resources." -- Hillary Angelo * Public Books *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I. The Impetus for Change
1. Key Concepts Informing Early Conservation Thought 9
2. Wealthy People and the City: An Ambivalent Relationship 32
Part II. Manliness, Womanhood, Wealth, and Sport
3. Wealth, Manliness, and Exploring the Outdoors: Racial and Gender Dynamics 51
4. Wealth, Women, and Outdoor Pursuits 83
5. People of Color: Access to and Control of Resources 109
Part III. Wildlife Protection
6. Sport Hunting, Scarcity, and Wildlife Protection 161
7. Blaming Women, Immigrants, and Minorities for Bird Destruction 189
8. Challenging Wildlife Regulations and Understanding the Business-Conservation Connections 224
Part IV. Gender, Wealth, and Forest Conservation
9. Rural Beautification and Forest Conservation: Gender, Class, and Corporate Dynamics 257
10. Preservation, Conservation, and Business Interests Collide 290
11. National Park Preservation, Racism, and Business Relations 328
12. Nation Building, Racial Exclusion, and the Social Construction of Wildlands 350
Conclusion 383
Notes 399
References 407
Index 465
