1990 And Beyond
BERRY, Wendell (1934)
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Citizenship Papers
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2003. Stated first printing. Published Shoemaker & Hoard. Signed
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Signed on title page. A book of nineteen essays, many a response to governmental actions taken in the wake of 9/11 to curtail civil liberties. Dedicated to the signers of the Declaration of Independence, each of whom is individually named. F in a NF NPCDJ
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Berry is a well-known naturalist, essayist, novelist, poet and academic who is renowned for his dedication to Jeffersonian principles around an agrarian ideal. Per a 2012 NEH lecture by David Skinner: "...Wendell Berry continues as a great contrary example to the compromises others take in stride. Instead of being at odds with his conscience, he is at odds with his times... he writes to document and defend what is being lost to the forces of modernization...." Berry was born and raised in rural Kentucky, working on the family farm. Among his main principles is the benefit of sustainable agricultural practices by family farmers - he is an avowed opponent of uncontrolled technology generally, and industrial agriculture specifically. Berry is a dedicated Christian who has challenged the unwillingness of religious institutions to take on envronmental issues.
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Berry attended Stanford's creative writing program in 1958 as a Wallace Stegner Fellow, along with such future luminaries as Larry McMurtry and Ken Kesey. Stegner remained a supporter and mentor of Berry's over time. Berry has been a long-time activist, environmental and otherwise. For example, in 2011 he and a group of other protesters spent a weekend locked in the Kentucky governor's office to protest mountaintop removal coal mining. In 2011, the Berry Center was established in KY to bring "focus, knowledge and cohesion to the work of changing our ruinous industrial agricultural system and culture that uses nature as the standard, accepts no permanent damage to the ecosphere, and takes into consideration human health in local communities" according to the center's mission statement. Berry has been awarded the National Humanities Medal, among many other honors.
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BROECKER, Wallace S. (1931-2019)
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The Glacial World According to Wally
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1992 - First draft of Broecker's self-published "proto-book."
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Broecker was a revered, ground-breaking geoscientist who "defined much of today's understanding of the climate system." It is impossible to overstate the importance of his work. Broecker spent his entire career at Columbia. Unable to come up with a textbook that could keep up with the pace of change in climate science, he decided to create his own, in the form of comb-bound photocopies that could be updated as needed. This was a first draft - more than 200 pages plus appendices and bibliography, with owner's name of fellow geochemist Dr. Bill Reeburgh written in. NF
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Per an obituary published by nature.com by Peter de Menocal, from which the quote above is taken, Broecker "defined the ocean's role in global climate change and carbon cycling.... A wellspring of transformative ideas, Broecker inspired generations of researchers to think expansively about Earth." de Menocal quotes Broecker in 1998 as saying the climate system is like "an angry beast and we are poking it with sticks" by continuing to release tons of greenhouse gases. A scientific article Broecker published in 1975 essentially introduced the term "global warming" and sounded an early, unheeded warning.
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It's beyond the scope of this site to fully describe Broecker's work - it would be too voluminous. But for those interested in learning about him I would highly recommend Columbia's lengthy 2019 press release announcing Broecker's death, by Kevin Krajick (address below).
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From that obit: "There is no Nobel Prize in the earth sciences, but Broecker received honors and millions of dollars in awards from foundations, governments and scientific societies. He received honorary degrees from Harvard, Cambridge and other universities. He was elected to London's Royal Society and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In 1996, he received the National Medal of Science from U.S. President Bill Clinton. He plowed most of cash awards back into research." [https://news.climate.columbia.edue/2019/02/19/wallace-broeker-early-prophet-of-climate-change/]
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CALVIN, William H. (1939)
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A Brain For All Seasons: Human Evolution & Abrupt Climate Change
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2002. First printing. Published by University of Chicago Press. Signed
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Signed on title page. Green cloth boards. F in a F NPCDJ.
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Calvin is a neurobiologist and University of Washington professor who is "known for popularizing neuroscience and evolutionary biology, including the hybrid of these two fields, neural Darwinism. He relates abrupt climate change to human evolution and more recently has been working on global climate change issues." [Wikipedia entry on Calvin]. He is a prolific author, with seventeen books listed on Wikipedia at this writing (2023), the most recent published in 2019.
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CAMERON, Kenneth Neill (1909-1994)
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Atmospheric Destruction and Human Survival
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1992. Pamphlet. Published by CES/CNS, Santa Cruz, CA
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This is CES/CNS Pamphlet #3. Publishers are Capitalism, Nature, Socialism: A Journal of Socialist Ecology; and Center for Ecological Socialism, the latter presumably the publisher of the former, as the same address is listed. 34 pages including page of suggested further reading, plus a page containing an ad and order sheet for CNS. A separate card with the same content is laid in. In the pamphlet, Cameron writes not only of the social and economic effects of climate change, but also the social and economic causes. F in paper wrappers.
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A relatively perfunctory internet search shows that CES may have changed its name to Center for Political Ecology, but that apparently did not save it, as it appears to be defunct.
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Kenneth Neill Cameron was, according to his 1994 NYT obituary, "one of the country's foremost scholars of Shelley and English Romantic poetry in general.... The rebellious streak in Shelley's entourage was reflected in Dr. Cameron's thinking. It led him to write about Marxism...," a subject upon which he published several books. Which I assume explains the connection to CNS/CES.
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CHRISTIANSON, Gale E. (1942-2010)
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Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming
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1999. First printing. Published by Walker & Co., New York. Inscribed
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Inscribed​ on ffe: "All good wishes, Gale E. Christianson." Blurb by David Suzuki. Christianson was an historian and professor (male, incidentally) who has written a number of books, including a biography of Loren Eiseley. F in a F NPCDJ.
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DANIEL, John (1948)
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The Trail Home: Essays
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1992. Stated first. Published by Pantheon Books. Signed
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Signed on title page. Dedicated to Wallace Stegner and blurbed by, among others, Wendell Berry. VG+ in a NF NPCDJ.
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Winter Creek: One Writer's Natural History
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2002 - stated first in paper wraps. Published by Milkweed Press as part of its Credo series. Signed.
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Signed on title page. Dedicated to Wendell Berry and blurbed by Barry Lopez. Milkweed's Credo series gives nature writers a forum to "discuss their essential goals, concerns and practices" and each one contains a bio of the author (here by series editor Scott Slovic of the ASLE) and a complete bibliography. VG in paper wraps.
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John Daniel is a poet and writer of fiction, non-fiction and memoir, as well having been an NEA fellow and a writer-in-residence at various colleges. He was accepted as a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford in 1982 and earned a master's in English despite having never earned an undergraduate degree. He then lived for five years in a cottage on Stegner's property, working as a part-time instructor at Stanford. He now lives in Oregon, where he is a three-time winner of the Oregon Book Award, as well as a John Burroughs Nature Essay Award. In an oregonencyclopedia.org article, his works are described as focusing on "the significance of nature and place in the evolution of self, he explores what it means to understand one's role on a planet that is increasingly endangered. Motifs in his Thoreauesque works include experiments in solitude, human relationships, rootlessness and home, a spiritual sense of nature, and the grandeur of the Pacific Northwest." Daniel serves as a judge on the panel for the John Burroughs Nature Essay Award.
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DAVIS, Devra (1946)
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When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution
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2002. Second printing. Published by Perseus - Basic Books. Inscribed
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Second printing, inscribed on title page: "For Audrey + Bob, with hopes for a safer+ healthier future + thanks for your support. Warmly, Debra." Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Foreword by Mitchell Gaynor, M.D. Davis is a world-renowned epidemiologist who was the founding director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at Pitt and founder and president of the Environmental Health Trust, among many other things. Blurbed by David Suzuki, among others. NF in a NF NPCDJ
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DEMING, Alison Hawthorne (1946)
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The Edges of the Civilized World: A Journey in Nature and Culture
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1998. Advance uncorrected proof. Published by Picador USA, New York. Advance review copy with publisher's materials laid in.
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Advance uncorrected proof in paper wraps with full-page TLS from Linda McFall of Picador to "Reviewer," along with b&w photo of author laid in. NF- with sticker residue on cover.
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Deming is the great-granddaughter of Nathanial Hawthorne and the former chair in Environmental and Social Justice at the University of Arizona, where she is professor emerita. She is a celebrated award-winning poet, essayist and teacher. This book was a finalist for the PEN Center West Award for Creative Nonfiction. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2015. Deming worked in healthcare for 15 years before getting her MFA in Poetry whilst in her 40s. She was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford, among other fellowships.​​
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DOMBECK, Mike + WOOD, Christopher + WILLIAMS, Jack
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From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Lands Legacy
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2003. First edition, in paper covers. Published by Island Press, Washington DC. Inscribed by Dombeck and Wood to prominent environmental attorney James Pipkin
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Inscribed on half-title: "To Jim, with best wishes, Mike Dombeck, March 2003" and "Jim - All my best. Thanks for all you've done for conservation. Chris Wood." Jim is James Pipkin, an attorney active in conservation efforts within and without government. With Pipkin's underlining, stars and marginalia throughout. For more on Pipkin, see Joseph Sax' Mountains without Handrails (1980), which is also inscribed to him. Co-written by the authors in a unified style from a governmental insider's perspective. Each of the eight chapters is accompanied by one or more short "focus essays" from influential environmentalists and public lands experts including Rick Bass, Bruce Babbitt, Curt Meine and Nina Leopold Bradley, and Gaylord Nelson, among others. Foreword by Charles Wilkinson. An interesting group of people chosen to blurb the book, being Gifford Pinchot III, A. Carl Leopold and Theodore Roosevelt IV, all descendants of stars. F in paper covers.
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Mike Dombeck is the only person (as of Dec 2024) to have headed the BLM (1994-97) and the USFS (1997-2001), having worked at one or the other since 1978. At the USFS he was a staunch defender of land conservation and scientific management practices - under his leadership, the roadless rule was developed, which protected over 50 million acres of remote forest reserves. Since then, he has been in academia. He has won numerous awards including the Ansel Adams Award, the Aldo Leopold Restoration Award, and Conservation Hero of the Year by the Wilderness Society in 2001.
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Christopher Wood joined Trout Unlimited in 2001 and is now (Dec 2024) President and CEO - in 2003 he was vice president of conservation. TU is a US-based 300,000-member conservation organization founded in 1959 dedicated to conservation and remediation of rivers and streams. Before that, he served as a senior policy and communications advisor to the chief of the USFS.
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Jack E. Williams is, as of Dec 2024, emeritus senior scientist at Trout Unlimited and in 2003 was a professor and Senior Fellow at the AuCoin Institute for Ecological, Economic, and Civic Studies at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. Previously he had been at various positions at the USFS, BLM and USFWS.
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Charles F. Wilkinson (d. 2023) was a preeminent expert on the intersection of public lands, natural resources and Native American law. He was author of 14 books "which stand as seminal works that shaped the fields of Indian Law and Federal Public Land Law" per a remembrance published on the Univ of CO law school, where he was a professor. He worked with various governmental agencies on special assignments, including relating to the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. He was the recipient of many awards including, among others, the John Wesley Powell Award from the Grand Canyon Trust and the National Wildlife Federation's National Conservation Award.
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EARLE, Sylvia (1935)
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Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans
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1995. Second printing. Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York. Personally inscribed with drawings
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Inscribed​ on ffe: "12 April 1995/For my friends Jean and Eric, with love and thanks from all of us [drawings of animals] and many others at [xxxxx] Skyline Dr. xx Sylvia." The menagerie of small sketch drawings of animals embedded in the inscription include cats, dogs, birds, fish, and what may be lizards. Also signed on the title page. Earle's first solo book. Blurbs by Jane Goodall and E.O. Wilson, among others. F in a NF NPCDJ.
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Sylvia Earle is a marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer and author whose accomplishments rival Jacques Cousteau, albeit without the public platform he had. Her conservation work focuses on marine area protection and fishing limits. She was named Time Magazine’s first Hero of the Planet, in 1998. That same year, she was named National Geographic Explorer in Residence (she is now Explorer at Large). She is sometimes referred to as “Her Deepness” or “The Sturgeon General” - according to her Wikipedia entry at t he time of this writing (Spring 2024), she still holds the record for the deepest solo dive by a woman.
She was, among many other things, the first female Chief Scientist at NOAA, Curator of Phycology at the California Academy of Sciences, head of the Sustainable Seas Expeditions (a five-year National Geographic program to study the US Marine Sanctuary), and founder of Mission Blue, a non-profit focused on marine area protection which was initially funded in part from a TED prize awarded to her in 2009. Mission Blue’s goal is protection of 30% of the ocean by 2030 (up from 6% in 2021).
Among the many recognitions she has received are The Rachel Carson Award from The National Audubon Society, L.A. Times Woman of the Year, National Wildlife Federation Conservationist of the Year, the Hubbard Medal from The National Geographic Society, and dozens more. A number of awards recognize her work as an undersea explorer.
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FIROR, John (1927-2007)
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The Changing Atmosphere: A Global Challenge
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1990. First printing. Published by Yale Univ Press. Inscribed
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An early climate change book, blurbed by Bill McKibben among others. Inscribed​ on half-title: "To King Woodward, with warm regards/John Firor." Woodward was general manager of The Aspen Institute in Colorado. F in a NF DJ.
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Firor was a physicist who headed the High Altitude Observatory and then the National Center for Atmospheric Research from 1961-1980. “Firor took a keen interest in the intersection of science and society, and he became one of the earliest and most eloquent spokespeople on the dangers of human-induced climate change, testifying before Congressional committees and addressing a broad variety of audiences. His book, Our Changing Atmosphere (1990), received the Louis J. Battan Award from the American Meteorological Society.”. [Wikipedia page on Firor]. Firor also served as Board Chair of the Environmental Defense Fund.
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FITZPATRICK, Tony
Signals from the Heartland
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1993 - First printing. Published by Walker and Company. Inscribed to naturalist and conservationist John K. Bouseman, with a spararate ALS to him. Bouseman is one subject of the book.
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Inscribed on title page: "To John Bouseman, a dedicated conservationist and proud native of Illinois, with respect and gratitude, Tony." Laid is a photocopy of a positive St. Louis Post-Dispatch review of the book by William Allen, who also provided a blurb, with a note handwritten to Bouseman from Fitzpatrick. Bouseman is one subject of the book. Also blurbed by Cathy Johnson, among others. F in a F NPCDJ.
From a 1993 Kirkus review:
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Fitzpatrick (science editor of Washington University's PR office) takes the measure, through interview/portraits with local land stewards, of the environmental depredations besieging the states of Illinois and Missouri…. While there are instances of hope here - inspiring examples of people thumbing their noses at received opinion and possible economic ruin to do the right thing… - it's hard to shake the feeling of gloom that pervades these pages. Fitzpatrick can get real existential about the sorry state of environmental affairs in the region: Pure and simple, he says, the land is dying, and species are vaporizing in what has become another Age of Extinction.
John K. Bouseman (1936-2006) was a naturalist and entomologist who worked for the Illinois Natural History Survey for 35 years. He published several field guides on butterflies. He was also a collector of rare and collectible natural history books.
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FOREMAN, Dave (1946-2022)
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Confessions of an Eco-Warrior
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1991. Stated first. Published by Harmony Books, New York. Inscribed
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Inscribed​ on half-title: "To my buddy Mike Hill with thanks for your good work in the wilderness and in my house. Happy Trails, Dave Foreman. Albuquerque 6-14-02." Blue and gray boards. F in F NPCDJ.
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The Great Conservation Divide: Conservation and Resourcism on America's Public Lands
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2014. First(?) in paper covers. Published by Raven's Eye Press, Durango, CO. Signed
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Signed on half-title. Glossy photographic paper wrappers. Described as "Third in the For the Wild Things series by The Rewilding Institute and Raven's Eye Press." Sold to me as first printing which is likely true, but publisher is not in my McBride Guide. Number line with the one missing. F
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Foreman was co-founder (along with Howie Wolke and others) of Earth First!. He was the most visible and best known of the radical environmentalists who, inspired by Edward Abbey's The Monkeywrench Gang, advocated an uncompromising stance and sometimes industrial espionage in order to impede development. He became disillusioned and left the organization after about a decade due to its increasingly left-wing, social-justice oriented positions. Foreman (who worked for Barry Goldwater after college) described himself as a "redneck for the environment" was later described by one of his co-founders as an "unrepentant right-wing thug." Foreman served on the Sierra Club board for two years but left after his proposed anti-immigration policies (a stance he shared with Abbey) were rejected. He later co-founded the Wildlands Project and The Rewilding Institute, both attempts to stem loss of biodiversity and increase wild spaces and habitat.​​​​
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GESSNER, David
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A Wild, Rank Place: One Year on Cape Cod
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1997. First printing. Published University Press of New England. Signed
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Signed on title page. Separate gift inscription, not by author, on illustrated facing page. From Thoreau's Cape Cod (1865): "It is a wild, rank place, and there is no flattery in it." Blurbed by, among others, Bill McKibben. NF in a NF unclipped DJ.
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Gessner has written over a dozen books, of which this was the second, that "blend a love of nature, humor, memoir, and environmentalism," per his website. He is a professor at UNC Wilmington and founder and editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Ecotone. He has won the John Burroughs Award for Best Nature Essay, the Reed Award for Best Book on the Southern Environment from the Southern Environmental Law Center, and the Association for Study of Literature and the Environment's award for best book of creative writing.
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In the first, seven-page chapter, Gessner references Thoreau, Emerson, Beston, Abbey, William Carlos Williams and A.A. Milne/Pooh.
A formidable lineup against which to set oneself up against indeed!
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GOODALL, Jane (1934)​
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Hope for Animals and Their World
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2009. Stated first. Goodall was co-author along with Gail Hudson and Thane Maynard. Published by the Grand Central division of Hachette. Inscribed and signed by all three authors
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Inscribed to "Irene." F in a F NPCDJ.
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Goodall is best known as a primatologist, considered the world's foremost authority on chimpanzees. She is also a passionate and active environmental advocate, focusing in part on the impact of climate change and deforestation to habitat loss. She also, incidentally, wrote an absolutely fantastic, very funny introduction to Gary Larson's The Far Side Gallery 5, a battered copy of which I have long owned (and thumbed through repeatedly, hence the battering) but which is, perhaps wrongly, not included in the Collection. (Recall the Goodall Institute took umbrage at a reference to her in a Larson comic while she was in Africa, but upon her return she thought it was hilarious.)
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GORE, Al (1948)
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Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit
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1992. First printing. Published by Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. Signed
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Signed on ffe. Light blue boards with green cloth spine. NF in a VG- NPCDJ.
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Gore was elected President of the United States in 2000 but was not permitted to assume the office due to a SCOTUS error. Not the last.
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GRAEDEL, Thomas E. and CRUTZEN, Paul J (1933-2021)
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Atmosphere, Climate and Change
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1995. First printing. Published by W.H. Freeman. A volume of the Scientific American Library. Inscribed
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Inscribed by Crutzen on ffe: "Mainz, 4/9/01/To Dieter Buhrnheim, with my best regards, Paul Crutzen." Buhrnheim appears to have been a book dealer. F in a F NPCDJ.
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Crutzen was a Dutch atmospheric chemist and meteorologist who was an early scientific voice on climate change and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 for his work on ozone depletion. He was "widely regarded as one of the founders of modern chemistry," according to the biographical summary on the DJ. At the time of publication, he was running the Air Chemistry Division of the Max Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany. Crutzen popularized the use of the term ‘Anthropocene’ to describe the new era as one in which human activity could have massive impacts on the environment - he was also among the first to use the term ‘nuclear winter.’
Graedel began his career as an atmospheric chemist before pioneering the field of industrial ecology, which examines the environmental impact of industrial production through the entire life cycle of the product and associated processes. He taught on the subject for 18 years at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (now School of the Environment). He co-authored the first, standard textbook in the field.​​​​​​
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HARTE, John (1939)
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The Green Fuse: An Ecological Odyssey
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1996. First printing. Published by Univ of California Press. Inscribed
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Inscribed on half-title: "For Chris and Dorothy Johnson, with deep admiration for all your contributions to life at RMBL, John Harte (Gothic, August 1994)." RMBL is the influential Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratories, the high-altitude research station in Gothic CO, of which the Johnsons were important leaders. Chris was the son of the lab's founder and served himself as president from 1968-77. Illustrated by Len Kamp. F in a NF DJ.
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[See Harte and Socolow's Patient Earth (1971) in Anthologies for more on Harte.]
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HEACOX, Kim (1951)
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Visions of a Wild America: Pioneers of Preservation
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1996. First edition. Published by National Geographic. Inscribed to highly respected ecologist Thomas Lovejoy.
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Inscribed to deeply respected ecologist Thomas Lovejoy on page facing title: "November, 1997, To Thomas E. Lovejoy, Ph.D. - Thank you for your kind word about Alaska. May you always be surrounded and sustained by wild America. - Kim Heacox, President, Friends of Glacier Bay, Alaska." Heacox' fifth book and his first of five for National Geographic, consisting of essays on important conservationist writers such as Muir, Thoreau, Marshall, Leopold, Carson, MS Douglas. Stegner and Abbey. As expected from a National Geographic book, copiously illustrated with photos. According to Heacox' website, the book has sold over 200,000 copies and continues to sell in National Parks across the country, and is used by many colleges and universities as a textbook in environmental studies. Large octavo or small quarto, NF in a NF DJ.
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Heacox is a prolific environmental writer, photographer and activist who has won the National Outdoor Book Award and the Lowell Thomas Award for excellence in travel journalism twice for each. He has also won multiple awards for his nature photography. He arrived in Alaska to serve as a national park ranger at Glacier Bay NP in 1979 and never left, freelancing for over 40 years. His 17 published books include an unusual mix of fiction, memoir, biography and natural history.
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Thomas Lovejoy (1941-2021) was celebrated, honored and respected ecologist and conservationist who introduced the term "biological diversity" in 1980. He was at various times during his career a tropical and conservation biologist in the Amazon, director of the conservation program at the World Wildlife Fund-U.S., assistant secretary for environmental and external affairs for the Smithsonian, chief biodiversity adviser to the president of the World Bank, senior advisor to the president of the U.N. Foundation, chair of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, president of the American Institute for Biological Sciences, chair of the US Man and Biosphere Program, president of the Society for Conservation Biology, president of the Amazon Biodiversity Center, the first Biodiversity Chair of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, and chair for the Scientific Technical Advisory Panel of the multi-billion Global Environment Facility. Wow. Lovejoy was much honored, including the Blue Planet Prize, and was selected as a US Science Envoy by the US State Department.
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HEINRICH, Bernd (1940)
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The Geese of Beaver Bog
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2004. Stated first edition. Published by Ecco/Harper Collins.
Brown boards with brown cloth spine. F in a F NPCDJ.
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Heinrich is professor emeritus in biology at University of Vermont and is a prolific author, with over twenty titles listed on Wikipedia. He is also a highly accomplished endurance runner, having set a number of American, World and master's records, primarily in ultramarathon distances. Which, as an occasional ultra runner myself, I consider impressive as hell!
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HILL, Julia Butterfly (1974)
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The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, A Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods
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2000. Stated first edition. Published by Harper Collins. Personally inscribed
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Inscribed: "For --- and ---, Many Blessings and heartfelt gratitude for all you do and are! Julia Butterfly Hill." The date 3/31/2000 is written below in a separate hand. Text liberally marked with a highlighter pen, with occasional marginalia. Laid in are various materials, the most interesting being a handwritten poem by one of the recipients about Hill written while Hill was on her vigil. Other material includes promotional cards for a film about Hill and a 10th anniversary event of her vigil, and various newspaper clippings. VG in VG NPCDJ
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Julia Butterfly Hill​ spent over two years, from 1997-99, living in a tent atop a thousand-year-old Redwood tree in order to prevent Maxxam Corp.'s Pacific Lumber Company from cutting that and surrounding trees. Pac Lumber had clear-cut extensively in that area of Humboldt County, CA, the result of which was a landslide which buried much of the town of Stafford. Hill was supposed to stay in the tree for a week, but ultimately lived there, through freezing rains, high winds, helicopter harassment, a ten-day siege by company security guards, and other attempts at intimidation, for 738 days. Hill waged an effective media campaign from the tree, doing cell phone interviews, hosting TV crews, etc. Ultimately, an agreement was reached and that and surrounding trees were saved. Since then, Hill has become a motivational speaker, author, and founder of activist non-profits. She continues to be an activist. The character Olivia Vandergriff in Richard Power's The Overstory (2018) is loosely based on Hill. An impressive person indeed!
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JACKSON, Wes (1936)
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Becoming Native to this Place
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1994. First. Published by Univ Press of Kentucky. Inscribed.
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Inscribed on half-title: "For Bill, with my compliments, Wes Jackson." Wes Jackson is a recognized leader in sustainable agriculture. He founded the Land Institute, which is working to, among other things, develop perennial crop plants and promote polycultural agricultural practices. He is friend and collaborator with Wendell Berry. The book challenges its readers to truly become native to our land - to transform our agricultural and cultural practices to reflect natural processes. Jackson has been a Pew Conservation Scholar and MacArthur Fellowship recipient. F in a F NPCDJ.
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KELLY, Petra K. (1947-1992)
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Thinking Green!: Essays on Environmentalism, Feminism, and Nonviolence
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1994. Unable to determine edition but almost certainly a first printing. Published by Parallax Press, Berkeley, CA. From the library of Peter Matthiessen, who wrote the Foreword.
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Per bookseller Ken Lopez, from the library of Peter Matthiessen, who wrote the seven-page Foreword. The book was published posthumously - according to the Preface by the publisher, Kelly was found dead in 1992 in an apparent murder-suicide at the hands of her (possible lover) Gert Bastian, ex-general and Green politician (the publisher, Arnold Kotler, reflects some skepticism that Gert was, in fact, responsible). Mustard-colored cloth boards. F in NF NPCDJ.
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Kelly was a founder of the German Green Party, the first Green party to achieve meaningful status worldwide. Born in Germany, her family moved to the US when she was around 12 years old. She campaigned for Hubert Humphrey and RFK before moving back to German in 1970, where she was elected to the Bundestag in 1983. She must have been something of a force - in addition to the Foreword by PM, the book is blurbed on the rear DJ cover by the Dalai Lama and Peter Seeger, among others.​
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KIMMERER, Robin Wall (1953)
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Braiding Sweetgrass
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2013. This is the second hardcover edition of 2020, with new Intro. Published by Milkweed Press. Signed.
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Signed on title page. An easy exception to the year 2000 limit on books in the Collection. Amongst the most profound, and profoundly humbling, books I've ever had the privilege of reading. With its Native American-inspired ethos, the book to me represents a culmination of the trend towards the recognition that humankind is but one element in Earth's ecosystem, and a latecomer at that, with all that implies in terms of wisdom, experience and perspective. Milkweed's most popular title ever (by a long shot, I'd guess), having sold three million copies in North America and been published in 20 different languages (as of Nov 2024). This for a book that had an initial print run of 8,000 copies and was not reviewed in any major newspapers or magazines - it spread by word of mouth and finally hit the NYT best-seller list in 2020 (presumably in conjunction with this edition) where, as of Nov 2024, it has spent 241 weeks. F no DJ as issued.
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"The novelist Richard Powers said Braiding Sweetgrass moved him - he had to pull over when he was listening to the audiobook in his car because he was crying so hard. The book profoundly shaped his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Overstory [2018]...." per an excellent piece on Kimmerer from the NYT written in connection with her latest book. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/29//books/braiding-sweetgrass-serviceberry-robin-wall-kimmerer.html?smid=nytcore-android-share]. It is also worth finding the short interview of Kimmerer from the always entertaining section of NYT Book Review (12/8/24) wherein authors discuss their own reading. She mentions no less than seven authors currently contained in the Collection (plus Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames, both of which series I loved growing up).
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KINGSOLVER, Barbara (1955)
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High Tide in Tucson
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1995. Signed limited first edition, specially bound for presentation - this is letter a. Published by HarperCollins.
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One of 176 specially bound and slip-covered signed copies, of which 150 were offered for sale and 26 were reserved for personal distribution, each of which was lettered. This is letter a. A collection of essays, most previously published in periodicals but substantially rewritten for this book, focusing on "themes of family, community, the common good and the natural world." NF with light fading to spine in a NF slipcover created for the limited edition. The slipcover has Kingsolver's photo and the title on the front and reproduction of back of mass-market dj on the back. Volume is bound in green cloth with copper gilt title on spine and small design of a hermit crab on front and rear covers.
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There are few (if any) authors whose addition to the Collection could make me happier. Kingsolver is a long-time personal favorite, and perhaps the living author with whom I would most love to dine (among other things). It is her profound humanity, curiosity, voice and perspective that most draws me to her, but she is also a committed environmentalist, as several of the essays in this book demonstrate. Even more cogently, there are few authors for whom place is such an integral and sympathetic element to their writing. This is true of both her fiction and non-fiction work, from the Appalachia of Demon Copperhead and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle to the desert Southwest of The Bean Trees and Animal Dreams, to the Africa of The Poisonwood Bible (none of which are in the Collection).
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Kingsolver was raised in rural Kentucky, where she currently lives, with a brief stay as a youth in the Congo. She lived for 20ish years as an adult in Tucson, AZ, before returning to Appalachia. She has a bachelor's degree in biology and a masters in ecology and evolutionary biology.
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KITTREDGE, William (1932-2020)
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Taking Care: Thoughts on Storytelling and Belief
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1999 - Stated first in paper wraps. Published by Milkweed Press as part of its Credo series. Signed.
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Signed on title page. Milkweed's Credo series gives nature writers a forum to "discuss their essential goals, concerns and practices" and each one contains a bio of the author (here by series editor Scott Slovic of the ASLE) and a complete bibliography. Sticker from used bookstore on rear cover, otherwise NF in paper covers.
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William Kittredge was a major modern author of the American West, having retired from ranching at age 35 and enrolled at the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the Univ of Iowa. His numerous awards included a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford and writing fellowships from the NEA. He also taught creative writing at the University of Montana in Missoula for 30 years.
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KOLBERT, Elizabeth (1961)
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Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change
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2006. Stated first U.S. edition. Published by Bloomsbury, London and New York. Inscribed
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Inscribed on half-title to unknown recipient: "To a low carbon future. With admiration for all your good work - Elizabeth Kolbert." The book is an expansion of a series of three award-winning articles Kolbert wrote for The New Yorker, where she is a staff writer. Black boards with red spine. The summary of the book on the inside front flap of the DJ claims it is "The most important book about life on Earth in over forty years." Which is quite a claim. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
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The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
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2014. Stated first edition. Published by Henry Holt, New York. Signed
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Signed in marker at bottom of title page. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. This is one of those books that gives lie to the idea that it is too early to be able to judge the influence and staying power on the environmental movement of more recently published books. I am confident this book will endure. Salmon cloth boards. NF+ in a NF+ NPCDJ
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Elizabeth Kolbert is a highly decorated author and journalist who has worked for the NYT and since 1999 has been a staff writer for The New Yorker.
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LADUKE, Winona (1959)
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Last Standing Woman
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1997. First printing. Published by Voyageur Press, MN. Inscribed
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Inscribed on title page: "To the wondrous Sammono Faraday, Thanks for your good heart/Winona LaDuke/November '97." [Am taking seller's word that second name is Faraday - I found it to be illegible]. This is a novel, and author's first book. Small owner's label (not inscribee but last name Sammons(?)) on ffe. Light blue boards. VG+ in NF DJ.
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All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life
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1999. First edition, early printing. Published by South End Press, Cambridge, MA. Inscribed
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Inscribed on title page: "To Virgina, [illegible - possibly a long Native American word or phrase], Good life. Winona LaDuke. 2001." Green cloth boards. VG no DJ.
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Winona LaDuke is a Native American economist, environmentalist and entrepreneur known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation as well as stable development. In 1989, LaDuke founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project in Minnesota with a goal of restoring lands originally granted to the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe/Chippewa) peoples. The organization has also worked to reforest the land and grow wild rice, long a Native staple - they sell this along with other traditional products under the label 'Native Harvest.' They also have developed sustainable energy projects. She is also ED of Honor the Earth, an organization she founded along with the Indigo Girls to support Native American ecological and environmental issues. [In 12023 LaDuke resigned from Honor the Earth after a court judgement that she had failed to adequately pursue a sexual harassment claim by an employee.]
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Interestingly, LaDuke was the Vice-Presidential running mate for Ralph Nader on the Green Party ticket in 1996 and 2000. [See Nader's book in Anthology section for a discussion of my views on the effect of his 2000 campaign]. I would like to think it is no coincidence that LaDuke endorsed the Democratic ticket in subsequent years.
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LANHAM, J. Drew
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The Home Place: A Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature
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2016. Stated first. Published by Milkweed. Signed
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Signed on title page. John Burroughs Medal finalist (honorable mention). Blurbed by Janisse Ray, among others. NF in a NF NPCDJ
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Lanham is a biologist with a PhD in forest resources who teaches wildlife science at Clemson, where he holds an endowed chair as Alumni Distinguished Professor and is also an alumni master teacher. He is a birder, hunter-conservationist, naturalist and poet. In 2022 he received a MacArthur genius grant for his work "combining conservation science with personal, historical, and cultural narratives of nature." Per his Wikipedia entry, he is "a strong advocate for the African-American role in natural resource conservation, intrigued with how culture and ethnic prisms can bend perceptions of nature and its care. Lanham believes that conservation must be a blending of head and heart, rigorous science and evocative art."
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This is, to the best of my knowledge, the first book by a Black American in the Collection (which consists of 530 +/- books as this is written in Dec 2023). This is most unfortunate, and a gap of which I have been acutely conscious for years. One book does not change an overall truth, but nevertheless I felt compelled to add this despite my general practice of limiting the Collection to authors influential before or during the 20th century. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​
LITTLE, Charles E.
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The Dying of the Trees: The Pandemic in America's Forests
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1995. Published by Viking. Inscribed
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Inscribed on half-title in year of publication: "To Joanna/with many, many thanks/Charles E. Little/September 22, 1995." "Joanna" is also written on ffe in pencil. A book describing the serious negative impacts on the health of America's forests of the consequences of many industrial processes, including acid rain, ozone depletion, etc., as well as more direct threats such as clear-cutting. Blurbed by, among others, Rick Bass and Wendell Berry. The blurbs are unusually laudatory, even for blurbs. Example, from Wilderness magazine editor T.H. Watkins: "Let me say it straight out: The Dying of the Trees is the most important environmental book since Silent Spring." F in a F NPCDJ.
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According to a biographical note from the library at NC State, which has Little's papers from 1975-90, Little became a full-time environmental activist, author, journalist and policy analyst in his mid-30s, leaving an advertising career. He has published or edited ten +/- books and written many articles. He has served as ED of OSI in New York, senior associate at the Conservation Foundation, and head of natural resources policy at the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress. In 1978 Little established and became president of the American Land Forum in order to develop policy on land conservation.
[See also Stewardship (1965), which was largely written by Little and Richard Pough but is credited to and listed under Open Space Action Committee, as author]
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MAATHAI, Wangari (1940-2011)
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Unbowed: A Memoir
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2006. Stated first. Published by Alfred A. Knopf. Signed
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Signed on title page: "Rise Up and Walk! Wangari." Laid in is a flyer for a lecture by Maathai at the College of the Holy Cross on 10/25/06. Bill Clinton blurbed the book. Tan board with green cloth spine. F in a F NPCDJ.
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Maathai was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize (2004). She was founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, a grassroots network of rural women dedicated to show how environmental degradation is linked to poverty. The Movement has planted and tended tens of millions of trees in eastern Africa. She was the first woman from East and Central Africa to earn a doctoral degree. Her work helped pave the way for free elections in Kenya, where she was elected to Parliament in 2002 and in 2003 became Assistant Minister for the Environment. She was an impressive woman, and this is fascinating book. The book was a gift from my daughters, who believe the Collection lacks sufficient gender and ethnic diversity. Which is true, particularly as to the latter.
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McCLOSKEY, Michael (1934)
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In the Thick of It: My Life in the Sierra Club
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2005. Published by Island Press/Shearwater. Inscribed.
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Inscribed on second fe: "To Bill, an old friend. Mike McCloskey." The ownership signature of "Bill" is on the ffe. The last name is illegible. McCloskey was hired as the Sierra Club's first field organizer in 1961, when it had about 25 employees. He ended up serving as the Club's executive director from 1969-85. McCloskey's wife Maxine, who was an ocean conservationist, is represented in the collection in Anthologies (1970). NF in a NF NPCDJ
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MITCHELL, George J. (1933) (Senate Majority Leader)
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World on Fire: Saving an Endangered Earth
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1991. Second printing. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons. Inscribed to Senator Paul Sarbanes.
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Inscribed on ffe: "To Paul Sarbanes, a Senator of uncommon intellect and ability, a close and valued friend, with gratitude/George Mitchell/July 1991." F in a NF NPCDJ.
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Mitchell was a US Senator from Maine from 1980-95, serving as Senate majority leader the last six. In that role he led the 1990 effort to extend the Clean Air Act. Subsequent to his Senate service, Mitchell led the process which brought peace to Ireland, and attempted to do the same for the Middle East.
Paul Sarbanes (1933-2020) was a US Senator from Maryland from 1977-2007, following six years in the House.
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MONTGOMERY, Sy (1958)
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Journey of the Pink Dolphins: An Amazon Quest [Uncorrected proof copy]
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2000. Advance uncorrected proof. Paper covers. Simon & Schuster. With personal TLS to Peter Matthiessen seeking a blurb.
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Advance uncorrected proof copy in paper covers with a typed letter signed by author to Peter Matthiessen dated 9/10/99 seeking a blurb laid in. The letter makes it clear they were already acquainted (see more below). From Matthiessen's personal library. VG+.
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Montgomery is a prolific author of books on science topics - with 34 published as of the date of this writing, over half of which are for children. This was her fifth book. At the time of this book's publication, she also wrote a nature column for the Boston Globe and was an NPR commentator.
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Postscript - I had the pleasure of chatting with Ms. Montgomery at a John Burroughs Society Award Luncheon at which she was an honoree. I mentioned the book - she responded with a wry anecdote about dining with Matthiessen at this time, even providing him with some of her research materials for his own use. He had forgotten his wallet and she ended up having to pick up the expensive tab - she was not yet an established author and lacked means. He never provided a blurb.
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NEELY, Nick
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Coast Range: A Collection from the Pacific Edge
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2016. First printing. Paper covers. Published by Counterpoint, Berkeley, CA. Inscribed
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Inscribed: "--------, Hope you enjoy this ramble! Nick Neely." The book consists of a collection of essays, largely about the Rogue River area of southwestern Oregon. The second essay, "The Book of Agate" won a John Burroughs Association award in the essay category, and the book itself was a finalist for the John Burroughs Association Medal for best nature book of the year. F in paper covers.
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Alta California: From San Diego to San Francisco, A Journey on Foot to Rediscover the Golden State
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2019. First printing of 2020 paperback edition. Paper covers. Published by Counterpoint, Berkeley, CA. Inscribed
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Inscribed: "--------, A collector after my own heart! Here's to your dedication to environmental writing! Cheers, and thanks. Nick Neely/March 2023." From the back of the book: "Nick Neely walked 650 miles from San Diego to San Francisco, following the route of the first overland Spanish expedition into what was soon to be called Alta California. Led by Gaspar de Portola in 1769, the expedition laid the foundation for the Golden State as we know it today. Weaving natural and human history, Alta California relives Neely's adventure, tells a story of Native cultures and the Spanish missions that soon devastated them, and explores the evolution of California and its landscape. The result is a collage of California past and present, of lyricism and pedestrian serendipity." F in paper covers.
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Neely is an Assistant Professor of English/Writing at Eastern Oregon University, and also teaches at the school's low residency MFA program with a concentration in Wilderness, Ecology and Community. He has an MA in Literature and Environmental Writing from UNR and MFAs in nonfiction and poetry from Hunter College and Columbia, respectively. He is a recipient of the PEN Northwest's Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, a UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship, and an AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award. Neely is also an avid collector of and important dealer in books on nature and the environment.
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PEACOCK, Andrea
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Libby, Montana: Asbestos & the Deadly Silence of an American Corporation
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2003. First printing. Paper covers. Published by Johnson Books, Boulder CO. From library of Peter Matthiessen, who blurbed book. TLS from publisher thanking him for the blurb.
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Paper covers. Laid in is a typed letter signed by the publisher to Peter Matthiessen, dated 5/22/03, thanking him for his (lengthy) blurb. According to the letter, Peacock "was very pleased (and maybe even a touch relieved) that you saw fit to comment favorably on the book. She had confided to me [Editorial Director Stephen Topping of Johnson Books] that of all the copies we sent out, your response would mean the most to her." The book got a lot of blurbs, including from Terry Tempest Williams, Rick Bass, David Quammen and others. F in paper wrappers.
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Andrea Peacock is a journalist covering Western politics and environmental issues and former editor of the Missoula Independent. She has published several books, including two co-written with her husband, Doug Peacock. The Peacock's papers are housed at Texas Tech University.
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PEACOCK, Doug (1942)
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In the Shadow of the Sabertooth: A Renegade Naturalist Considers Global Warming, the First Americans and the Terrible Beasts of the Pleistocene.
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2013. Paper covers. Impossible to tell edition but likely first/first. Published by Counterpunch and AK Press. Inscribed to Peter Matthiessen, from his library.
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Paper covers. Inscribed on title page: "To Peter, with deepest respect and love, Doug." With a separate signature of Peacock below. VG+ in paper wrappers.
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Doug is best known for his work to restore grizzly bears in the lower-48 states. He reportedly was the model for George Hayduke, the protagonist in Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang. [See the copy of Monkey Wrench inscribed by Peacock in the Abbey section.] In his blurb on the rear cover, David Quammen writes: "Doug Peacock is an iconic figure, a secular prophet, in the wildass American West. His voice is important, angry, humane, and unique." Phil Caputo adds: "Doug Peacock is a direct literary descendant of Thoreau, with a few genes from Audubon and his mentor, Edward Abbey, thrown in for good measure."​
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POLLAN, Michael (1955)
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The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
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2001. Stated first edition. Published by Random House. Inscribed
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Inscribed on half-title: "For Suzanne, Fellow bumblebee, with gratitude. Michael." The inscription is dated 6/21/01. F in a F NPCDJ
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The book, Pollan's third, is an exploration of humans' evolutionary relationships with four plants, apples, potatoes, tulips and marijuana, from both the human and the plant perspective. Pollan is best known as an opponent of factory farming and genetically modified food. He is currently a professor at both Harvard and Berkeley.
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POWERS, Richard (1957)
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The​ Overstory: A Novel
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2018. Stated first edition. Published by W.W. Norton & Co, New York and London. Signed
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Signed on second free endpaper. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award and the 2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. F in a F NPCDJ.
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A book of extraordinary power. Essential.​
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PYLE, Robert Michael (1947)
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Walking the High Ridge: Life as a Field Trip
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2000. Stated first edition. Paper wraps. Published by Milkweed Editions as part of its Credo series. Signed
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Softcover, signed on title page. Part of Milkweed's Credo series (see also Rick Bass for another book from that series), which gives contemporary authors focused on nature and humanity an opportunity to write about their "essential goals, concerns and practices." VG in paper wraps.
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Robert Michaely Pyle is a lepidopterist with a PhD from Yale, an independent scholar, author of both fiction and non-fiction, poet and environmentalist who has been particularly active in conservation efforts for monarch butterflies and old-growth Pacific forests. He is a much-decorated writer who has been awarded, among many other things, a John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing and two National Outdoor Book Awards. He has published 24 books and hundreds of essays, papers, poems, stories and anthology chapters, according to his Wikipedia entry as of 2024. He has taught writing, conservation biology and natural history at many colleges and other institutions, as well as at conferences and other events internationally. He frequently leads tours and field trips for conservation organizations and events including the National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, Smithsonian, Wilderness Society and others.
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QUAMMEN, David (1948)
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Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature
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1985. First printing. Published by Nick Lyons Books/Schocken Books, New York. Signed in year of publication.
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Signature dated 6/85. Essays from Quammen's celebrated column of the same name in Outside magazine, back when Outside was essential reading, featuring in addition to Quammen Tim Cahill, Mark Jenkins and, frequently, Jon Krakauer and David Roberts. This was his first non-fiction book. Blurbs and laudatory quotes from, among others, Barry Lopez, Ivan Doig, William Kittredge, and David Rains Wallace, in addition to Cahill and Roberts. F in a VG+ NPCDJ.
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The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction
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1996. First printing. Published by Scribners. Signed
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Signed on half-title and dated 4/11/96. Winner of the John Burroughs Association Medal. Notably enthusiastic blurbs by, among others, Barry Lopez ("a stunning work of scientific reporting"), Terry Tempest Williams ("stunning"), and Edward O. Wilson. (Wilson's in its entirety: "David Quammen is a brilliant young star of nature writing; itself justly recognized as an American specialty. His book, The Song of the Dodo, is an important example of the genre, written in an enchanting style. His knowledge, based on years of research and adventure around the world, is truly impressive. Every page held my attention."). Wilson, of course, pioneered the study of island biogeography [see his 1967 monograph on this website]. In the book, Quammen extends the insights gained from island biogeography to conclude that human development is making wilderness habitat into "islands," with all of the attendant consequences. Maps by Kris Ellingson. The very heavy text block is beginning to pull the binding away from the case at the top, causing a bit of a sag. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
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As discussed in the first entry above, Quammen wrote the "Natural Acts" column for Outside magazine (which I read religiously once I discovered it) from 1981 to 1995, winning multiple National Magazine Awards. He has held a contributing writer position at National Geographic and has written over a dozen other non-fiction books.
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RAY, Janisse (1962)
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Ecology of a Cracker Childhood
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1999. Stated first edition. Published by Milkweed Editions. Inscribed to Thomas Rain Crowe, southern writer and poet.
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Inscribed on title page: "For Thomas & Nan - mountain solitaires, friends of the earth: In honor of beloved landscapes and our long histories upon them. Thanks for your service. Love, Janisse. 11/6/99." Considered a modern classic of environmental memoir, winner of the American Book Award, the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Southern Environmental Law Center's Reed Award. Blurbs by Peter Matthiessen, Bill McKibben and Wendell Berry, among others. F in a F NPCDJ​
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Ray is a writer, poet, teacher and environmental activist. Ecology of a Cracker Childhood is her memoir about being raised in a junkyard by poor, white, fundamentalist Christian parents in southern Georgia. Its environmental focus is on the ecology of the shrinking longleaf pine forests that once covered the southeastern U.S.
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Thomas Rain Crowe (1949) is a writer, poet, musician, editor, publisher, anthropologist and environmental activist who also won an SELC Reed Award, for his 2005 book Zoro's Field (not in the Collection), a memoir about living off the grid in North Carolina for four years.​
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RUSSELL, Sharman Apt (1954)
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Songs of the Fluteplayer: Seasons of Life in the Southwest
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1991. Stated first printing. Published by Addison-Wesley Publishing. Signed
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Signed on title page. The book, a collection of essays about her years as a back-to-the-land person living in rural New Mexico, won the 1992 Mountain and Plains Booksellers Award and the New Mexico Zia Award. She has won many other awards for her writing, including the John Burroughs Medal in 2016. She is a long-time professor (now emerita) at Western New Mexico University whose writing focuses on citizen science, living in place, public land grazing, archaeology, flowers, butterflies, hunger and Pantheism. NF in a NF NPCDJ
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SAFINA, Carl (1955)
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Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas
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1997. First printing. Published by Henry Hold and Co., New York. Inscribed to Peter Matthiessen, who provided a blurb, from his library.
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Inscribed​ on ffe: "For Peter Matthiessen, With 'deep' appreciation for your help and inspiration. Best fishes, Carl Safina." ["fishes" is a pun, not a typo]. Next to the inscription is a small drawing of a swordfish. Inscription dated 12/97. This was Safina's first published book. Light purple boards with dark purple cloth spine. F in a F NPCDJ.
Eye of the Albatross: Visions for Hope and Survival
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2002. First printing. Published by Henry Hold and Co., New York. Signed
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Signed on half-title. Winner of the John Burroughs award. White boards with navy blue cloth spine. F in a NF NPCDJ.
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Safina is a high-profile ecologist and professor, currently at SUNY Stony Brook and Yale. He is a senior fellow at the WWF, a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Pew Fellow, among many other accolades. He was named among the 100 Notable Conservationists of the 20th Century by Audubon Magazine. His initial research was on seabird ecology, but his books extend to a broader exploration of humankind's relationship with the natural world.
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SAVOY, Lauret
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Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape
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2015. Published by Counterpoint Press. Signed
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Sign​ed on title page. Laid in is a letter by the founder of signed edition book club Literati Cultura eloquently explaining the selection of the book, which has been described as "in the vanguard of environmental writing and... often talked about as such," and which won the American Book Award and the ASLE Creative Writing Book Award and was shortlisted for several other awards. Also laid in is a letterpress broadside of a poem by Margaret Noondin in Anishinaabemowin (with translation) that connects to the book. NF in a NF DJ.
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Savoy on her website describes herself as a person of African American, Euro-American and Native American heritage. She is a professor of environmental studies at Mount Holyoke College. In her work she explores the intersection of natural and cultural history - "the narratives we tell of the American land's origins - and the narratives we tell ourselves of this land, including the place of race," per mtholyoke.edu.
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This is one of the few 21st century books in the Collection. I chose to add it given the regard in which the book is held, the underrepresentation of diverse authors in the Collection as a whole, and perhaps most importantly, my evolving view that in order to stave off environmental catastrophe, the world needs a "new" mindset, a mindset informed less by the idea of human supremacy and more by the planet itself and the old ways of living with her. For that to happen, a fundamental reassessment of recent human history is in order.
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SHUTKIN, William A.
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The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century
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2000. Published by MIT Press, Cambridge MA and London. Inscribed
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Inscribed on title page: "Paul - Keep up the great work at ? + ? [handwriting illegible]. Best Regards, Bill Shutkin." Foreword by David Brower. Very dark blue cloth boards. F in a G DJ [DJ would have been fine were it not for a smudged pencil writing in top right front corner.]
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The book is an attempt to combine environmentally sound policies with improved democratic processes within the context of a capitalist economic system. A key focus is proper pricing of ecosystem services. In his three-page Foreword, Brower writes: "The Land That Could Be profiles the kind of action that our democracy and environment need most. Shutkin writes not merely as an observer of this action, but someone who himself has been a part of it. He's a dynamic, young environmental leader...who has cut his teeth in the trenches of some of the country's most physically and socially distressed places. He's an environmental visionary looking for and creating solutions to today's problems with a passion that would make John Muir and Martin Luther King equally proud." After 25 years in academia and non-profit work, Shutkin became a sustainable real estate developer in 2016.​
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STEINGRABER, Sandra (1959)
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Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment
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1997. Stated first printing. Published by Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Signed
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Signed on title page. Steingraber is a biologist, poet, author and cancer survivor. Her work on the role of environmental factors on the increased prevalence of cancers has garnered her consistent recognition. She has also served more than one brief prison sentence after being arrested while protesting industrial development in the Finger Lakes region of NYS, where she lives. This book was adapted into a documentary by The People's Picture Co. According to the description on the inner DJ flap, this is the first book that combines toxic emission data released under right-to-know laws with the then newly released cancer registry data. Blurbed by Terry Tempest WIlliams, among others. NF in a NF NPCDJ
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STRONG, Maurice (1929-2015)
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Where on Earth are We Going?
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2000. Stated first. Published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada. Inscribed
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Inscribed on on ffe: "To Harry, Best regards! Maurice Strong." Foreword by Kofi Annan. NF in a NF PCDJ.
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Strong was an interesting gent - he served for many years as a senior executive of various companies in the oil business as well as other extractive industries. He was involved in a number of companies which faced allegations of overly optimistic public disclosure. According to Wikipedia, one journalist said he "tended to fare better than the companies and institutions that have used his talents."
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So why is he here? He was also an important force at the United Nations for environmental issues. He was involved in the U.N.'s first environmental summit, the 1972 Stockholm Conference, which in turn led to the United Nations Environmental Programme, which Strong was elected to lead. As head of UNEP, he convened the first international expert group meeting on climate change. He was later Secretary General of the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio. He co-chaired the Earth Charter Commission at the outset of the Earth Charter movement, chaired the World Resources Institute, was on the boards of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Stockholm Environment Institute, The Africa-America Institute, the Institute of Ecology in Indonesia, the Beijer Institute of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and others. He was senior advisor to the World Bank and many other institutions. He got around. He is honored with Companion of the Order of Canada; Queen Elizabeth II Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals; Order of the Polar Star (Sweden); Order of the Southern Cross (Brazil); and Commander of the Order of the Golden Ark (Netherlands), in addition to numerous other honors and awards.
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Yet the man remained controversial - an oilman environmentalist, seemingly a contradiction in terms. He was caught up (but never accused) in the U.N.'s oil-for-food scandal in 2005. One of his companies built a $35 million resort within a wildlife refuge in Costa Rica, without first obtaining requisite approvals. As I said - an interesting cat!
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SUZUKI, David (1936)
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The Legacy: An Elder's Vision for our Sustainable Future
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2010. True first - Canadian. Published by Greystone Books of Canada and the David Suzuki Foundation. Inscribed
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Inscribed on half-title to unknown recipient: "Thanks for joining us, David Suzuki." Foreword by Margaret Atwood. Textured tan boards. F in a F NPCDJ .
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Suzuki is a Canadian academic, TV broadcast host and environmental activist. He is best known as the longtime host of the CBC Television science show The Nature of Things. He was a professor at University of British Columbia for nearly forty years, having received his PhD in zoology from University of Chicago. He is an outspoken critic of governmental policy responses to climate change, immigration issues and GMO food, among other issues.
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Suzuki is a third-generation Canadian of Japanese descent - as a child his family was forced to move into an internment camp during WWII (so it wasn't just the Americans who did this). In 2004, he was ranked fifth in a list of greatest Canadians of all time on a CBC program that used viewer votes. Per the biographical blurb on the DJ, he is the author of more than forty books and has been adopted into three First Nation clans.​
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TWEIT, Susan J.
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Seasons in the Desert: A Naturalist's Notebook
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1998. First printing. Published by Chronicle Books, San Francisco. Inscribed to Gary Nabhan, who provided a blurb.
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Inscribed on title page: "For Gary, With thanks y gran abrazos! Susan/Tucson/April '98," and separately signed. Tweit is a botanist and writer who lives in the Southwest.
Gary Nabhan (1952) is an agricultural ecologist and ethnobotanist who focuses on the interaction of biodiversity and cultural diversity in the Southwest. He is considered a pioneer in the heritage seed bank and local food movements. From the rear cover: "'Put your other concerns aside for a moment, for this book is an event you won't want to miss. Inhale its fragrances, listen to its songs!' Gary Paul Nabhan, PhD, Director of Science, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum." Illustrated by Kirk Caldwell. NF in NF NPCDJ.
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WEIDENSAUL, Scott (1959)
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Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural Soul
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2005. First printing. Published by North Point Press. Inscribed
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Re-creation by author of Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher's iconic journey recounted in Wild America (1955). Weidensaul is an Appalachian-based naturalist specializing in ornithology and author of ten+ books, one of which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Inscribed: "For Dorothy and Warren, with all good wishes - Scott Weidensaul." NF in a NF NPCDJ.
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WILDER, Robert Jay (1960)
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Listening to the Sea: The Politics of Improving Environmental Protection
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1998. Paper covers. Second printing. Published by University of Pittsburgh Press. Inscribed to Steven Pauley.
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Inscribed on half-title page: "To Steve Pauley - It's a pleasure to have this connection with a member of the Pauley Family -- Edwin Pauley was a great man who I was fascinated to study for many years. I hope that you enjoy this book; With best wishes…Rob Wilder." Among the blurbs on the cover is one from James Lovelock. VG in paper wrappers.
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Edwin Pauley was an oil executive who became active in public service - ultimately from the right wing. As a regent of the California State University system, he was heavily involved with Ronald Reagan in suppression of anti-war protests at UC Berkeley. However, he also became active in promoting environmental causes (and funding part of Pauley Pavilion at UCLA) - principally in Hawaii. He granted access to half of his Coconut Island to the University of Hawaii at Manoa for use by the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology. After his death, his son Stephen Pauley - the inscribee - ran the family foundation, which gave the rest of the island to the Institute and provided funds for the building of a new library and laboratory buildings. Per Wikipedia: "Built on a living coral reef, the institute is now one of the world's premier locations for the study of marine biology." Stephen Pauley was also a proponent of the Dark Skies movement and was instrumental in the creation of Dark Skies reserves.
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Robert Jay Wilder is a JD/PhD who has taught at UCSB and UCSD, among other places. He is an outspoken environmental activist, focusing on ocean and clean energy issues. He founded one of the first clean energy stock indices in 2004, which has an ETF which mirrors it. He has served on the marine section of the board of the Society for Conservation Biology, as the conservation director of the Pacific Whale Foundation in Honolulu, and runs the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Institute. This appears to be his only book
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WILLIAMS, Terry Tempest (1955)
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Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
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1991. Published by Pantheon Books. Apparent final galley proof with TLS from publisher conveying it to a prominent Utah bookseller.
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Double page landscape copy bound at top. The cover indicates a publication date of October 14, 1991. Laid in is an August 26, 1991 TLS by Bill Preston on Random House letterhead (Pantheon is a Random House imprint). The body of the letter, to Ms. Jean McGean of Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore, reads in full: "Pantheon sent me these Xerox's of the Terry Tempest Williams book. I thought you or somebody at the store might enjoy reading your local author's story before publication." On the front is written in pencil "ex-libris Sam Weller" indicating the owner kept it for his private collection. Otherwise unmarked and in excellent condition.
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Williams is one of the premier environmental activists and authors of the last half-century [written in 2023] and Refuge is considered a classic in the field of environmental writing. Her writing is rooted in the American West - she grew up in Salt Lake City. She focuses on issues of environmental and social justice from an ecological and land preservation perspective.
Refuge is an extraordinary book - both a personal memoir about her the loss of her mother and grandmothers to cancer, and a natural history book focused on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in the delta flowing into the Great Salt Lake from the north. The key characters include her family, the birds of the Great Basin, the Great Salt Lake itself, and the desert. Starting in 1983, the delta was severely impacted by flooding, which is a key focus of the book. The epilogue to the book is an often-anthologized essay called "The Clan of the One-Breasted Women," about the cancer caused by exposure to nuclear testing in Nevada in the 1950's and early 1960's on nearby and downwind residents - including a disproportionate number of Williams' family members.
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Williams has a laundry list of awards and honors - some highlights include the National Wildlife Federation's Conservation Award for Special Achievement (1993), the Wallace Stegner Award from the Center for the American West (2005), the Robert Marshall Award from The Wilderness Society (2006), the John Wesley Powell award from The Grand Canyon Trust (2008), the Robin W. Winks Award from the National Parks Conservation Association (2013) and the John Muir Award from the Sierra Club (2014).
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Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
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1991. Published by Pantheon Books. Signed
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Stated first, signed on title page. VG+ to NF in VG NPCDJ
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WOLKE, Howie
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Wilderness on the Rocks
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1991. Paper covers. Impossible to determine edition. Published by Ned Ludd Books, Tucson, AZ.
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Paper covers. Four-page forward by Edward Abbey entitled: "George Hayduke's Code of the Eco-Warrior/A Preface to Howie Wolke's Book/by George Hayduke as told to Edward Abbey." Hayduke of course is the fictional protagonist from Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang. The rear cover book description/lengthy blurb is by Dave Foreman. F
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Wolke was a co-founder of Earth First! along with Foreman and others. On the website "rewilding.org" he is described as a "nationally-known advocate for protecting wilderness.... He has served as the President of the national conservation group Wilderness Watch." He is further described as "probably the most experienced backpacking guide in the Western U.S. He has a particular affinity for wolves and grizzly bears, is an avid hunter, backcountry skier, river-runner and bird-watcher." I am an avid backpacker myself and that is a bold claim, but I've no particular reason to doubt it.
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ART SHOW CATALOGUES
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MCPHEE, Laura and BEAHAN, Virginia
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No Ordinary Land: Encounters in a Changing Environment
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1998. Aperture. Signed
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Coffee-table style photo book of pics taken using a 50 lb, 40 yr old Deardorff camera. Signed by both artists with a handwritten personal letter of transmittal on the letterhead of the Lawrence Miller Gallery in NYC. Forward by Rebecca Solnit and Afterward by John McPhee, Laura's father. F in F NPCDJ.