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

Dyana Z Furmansky

ISBN 10: 0820333417 / ISBN 13: 9780820333410

Published by University Of Georgia Press Mai 2009, 2009

About this Item

Neuware - Rosalie Edge (1877-1962) was the first American woman to achieve national renown as a conservationist. The author 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'.

Seller Inventory # 9780820333410

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy : The Activist Who Saved Nature from the Conservationists
• Publisher: University Of Georgia Press Mai 2009
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820333417
• ISBN 13: 9780820333410
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 160H x 33D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 160 millimeters height by 33 millimeters depth
• Weight: 680 grams

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

DYANA Z. FURMANSKY (writing as Dyan Zaslowsky) is coauthor of These American Lands: Parks, Wilderness, and the Public Lands. Her articles on nature and the environment have appeared in the New York Times, American Heritage, Audubon, High Country News, Sierra, Wilderness, and many other publications. Furmansky lives in Denver.