Modern American environmentalists : a biographical encyclopedia /

This sequel to the Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists (CH, May'98, 35-4865), ed. by K. B. Sterling et al., includes 139 individuals deemed central to 20th-century American environmentalism. Those selected are predominantly college-educated whites from the Northeast and Midwest, and include some surprising and some familiar names. Writers, editors, poets, and journalists constitute the largest category. The 88 contributors offer useful essays on the lives, motivations, and legacies of those profiled. The selection does include foreign-born figures (despite a stated native-born criterion). Mixing individuals born from the 1830s through the 1940s clouds the real historical distinctions between modern and postmodern American environmentalism. Undergraduates would benefit from a longer introductory essay synthesizing the historical periods in the evolution of American environmental thought and discussing the controversial topics left out of the entries. By shying away from topics like race and eugenics, the contributors and editors miss an opportunity to discuss the antimodern, reactionary tendencies in American environmentalism as well as the meaning of wilderness in the context of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, the forced removal of Native people, and the influx of southern blacks into northern cities. Nevertheless, the entries are informative and engaging. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and general readers. T. L. Bremholm Tulane University