In a Dark Wood: The Fight over Forests and the Rising Tyranny of Ecology

Chase, Alston

ISBN 10: 0395608376 / ISBN 13: 9780395608371

Published by Houghton Mifflin (Trade), 1995

About this Item

535 pages. 9.50x6.50x1.75 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # 0395608376

Bibliographic Details

• Title: In a Dark Wood: The Fight over Forests and the Rising Tyranny of Ecology
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade)
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395608376
• ISBN 13: 9780395608371
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.89 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

Depicting the battle to save the old-growth forests of the Northwest, a book documenting the car bombing of an environmental activist and buyout of the Pacific Lumber Company explores the origins of the conflict from various points of view.

Reviews

Chase begins by tracing the swath of logging from east to west, the efforts of silviculturists to achieve timber sustainability, and the evolution of ideas that have led to the "teleological myth" of ecology. Next he recounts the attempts by ecologists, principally Earth First!ers, to block logging in the Northwest, initially to preserve old-growth forests. In addition to finding biocentric beliefs offensive, Chase also appears to find the Earth First!ers' lifestyles as nasty as their terrorist tactics, and the narrative devolves into irrelevant tattle and ridicule. Perhaps because of this antipathy, he is persuasive in his sympathetic depiction of the plight of the logging community. Chase's pro-forestry contribution to the ongoing controversy of whether habitat preservation is essential, nonessential, or detrimental to species survival is also effective, and examples are provided of some deleterious consequences of preservation, such as the nationwide overabundance of deer. Brenda Grazis