Aldo Leopold's Odyssey: Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac - Softcover

Warren, Julianne Lutz

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1597264423 ISBN 13: 9781597264426

Publisher: Shearwater, 2008

Synopsis

A household icon of the environmental movement, Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) may be the most quoted conservationist in history. A Sand County Almanac has sold millions of copies and Leopold's writings are venerated for their perceptions about land and how people might live in concert with the whole community of life.

But who is the man behind the words? How did he arrive at his profound and poetic insights, inspiring generations of environmentalists? Building on past scholarship and a fresh study of Leopold's unpublished archival materials, Julianne Lutz Newton retraces the intellectual journey generated by such passion and intelligence.

Aldo Leopold's Odyssey illuminates his lifelong quest for answers to a fundamental issue: how can people live prosperously on the land and keep it healthy, too? Leopold's journey took him from Iowa to Yale to the Southwest to Wisconsin, with fascinating stops along the way to probe the causes of early land settlement failures, contribute to the emerging science of ecology, and craft a new vision for land use.

More than a biography, this articulate volume is a guide to one man's intellectual growth, and an inspirational resource for anyone pondering the relationships between people and the land.

About this title

About the Author:

Julianne Lutz Newton is a visiting professor of environmental studies at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and president of the John Burroughs Institute in Roxbury, New York. Her articles have appeared in Conservation Biology, The Illinois Steward, Journal of Civil Society, and American Midland Naturalist.

From Booklist:

Conservationist Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) is revered for his gorgeous prose, deep appreciation for the beauty and "rightness" of the living world, and profound moral sense of how we should live on the land. But the story of how this Yale-educated midwesterner become one of the nation's first professional foresters and a groundbreaking environmental educator, and developed his commonsensical "land ethic," has not been fully studied until now. Ecologist Newton offers not a biography but, rather, an exacting chronicle of Leopold's intellectual and professional odyssey. Leopold conceived of the land as "a fountain of energy" flowing through soil (soil conversation was a primary mission), plants, waterways, animals (Leopold was an avid hunter and the nation's leading wildlife expert), and humans. He knew that to sustain "land health" we needed to develop an "ecological conscience" and fend off the "industrial juggernaut." Newton's compelling and elucidating close reading of Leopold's keystone works greatly enhances our understanding of his scientific rigor, philosophical valor, and abiding sense of wonder. If only we would take his conservation ethic to heart. Donna Seaman
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About this edition

• Publisher: Shearwater
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1597264423
• ISBN 13: 9781597264426
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 504