Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run

The controversial environmentalist reviews the highs and lows of fifty years of activism--including bans on DDT, dolphin-safe tuna, and preservation of the Grand Canyon--and offers a plan for a green twenty-first century. 25,000 first printing. $20,000 ad/promo.

At 82, the "Archdruid" looks back on a half-century of environmental activism and offers his plan for the future. Brower advocates CPR for the earth?conservation, preservation, restoration. Writing with Chapple (Kayaking the Full Moon), Brower (For Earth's Sake) reflects on past errors and successes. He recalls his years as head of the Sierra Club and its battle to save the Grand Canyon. One chapter, Forest Revolution, describes alternatives to wood for papermaking and building materials (it is fitting that this book is printed on tree-free paper; it is made from kenaf, a variety of hibiscus). Another chapter is a reprint of a piece written to celebrate Earth Day 20 years ago? "The Third Planet; Operating Instructions." A charming memoir. 50,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this book of short essays, Brower distills the lessons of his 82 years of loving and saving wild places. The plain words of this time-tested author, mountaineer, and environmental leader sparkle with wit, wisdom, and enthusiasm. Although the essays are arranged in five sections covering environmental problems, some solutions, ecosystem restoration, wildness, and advice for "those who would save the earth," two themes run through them all: CPR (conservation, preservation, restoration) of the earth as a goal for the 21st century and boldness as necessary for accomplishing this, or any, environmental action. Looking back over his years of activism, Brower regrets only the times he was not bold enough, for example, when he and other environmentalists sacrificed Glen Canyon to avoid further controversy over a dam for the Grand Canyon and so lost a place of spectacular wild beauty to an artificial lake for mechanized recreation. "Consensus," he reminds the reader, "makes it too easy for the lowest common denominator to rule." Recommended for most libraries.
Joan S. Elbers, formerly with Montgomery Coll., Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Brower, now in his eighties, has attained the rank of elder, and for this accomplishment alone, he deserves to be listened to, but he is also an active, eloquent, and effective environmentalist. Old enough to remember genuine wilderness, clean air, and fish-filled streams, Brower was a mountaineer, the Sierra Club's first executive director, and founder of the Friends of the Earth, experiences he draws upon with considerable wit and passion in this pithy, autobiographical, and engaging call-to-action. With the assistance of coauthor Chapple (Kayaking the Full Moon, 1993), Brower has written a stirring and easily digestible overview of the state of the earth and the status of the environmental movement in time for the twenty-fifth anniversary of Earth Day. As he discusses the need for ambitious countermeasures to halt the destruction of forests and other habitats, as well as the accelerated extinction of species, Brower suggests that we perform CPR on the earth: conservation, preservation, and restoration. He defines each course of action, offers various reasons for the wishy-washiness of the environmental movement, and exposes the corrupt system of government subsidies for such ecologically and economically unwise industries as cattle ranching, timber, and nuclear power. The "problems" list is long and daunting, but under "solutions," we find encouragement in such marvels as this very book, which is printed on paper made from kenaf, a variety of hibiscus and a real tree-saver. People would sooner destroy life than effect change, but as Brower says, "God and Nature are synonymous," and we "have no right to drive miracles off the Earth." Donna Seaman