Sara Dant

The 2nd edition of an expansive history of the American West in terms of its environmental heritage.

The American West is defined as that which lay west of the 100th parallel, an appropriate definition since that land receives less rainfall than the land to its east and requires a very different land management ethos.

The author quickly goes over the wide swath of history of the land, both in terms of its geologic and its Indigenous history. The majority of the book describes the treatment of the land by Americans: its settlement, its exploitative abuse, movements toward conservation or preservation, resistance to conservation or preservation, the birth of the environmental movement, and the backlash to the environmental movement, bringing us to the near present day.

The author thus well describes how the American West has been exploited, particularly for the material and economic gain of the American East, how its development is unsustainable and was known as such for almost 150 years, and encourages a healthier land ethic. As indicated, the American West was never the Eden it was imagined to be, but it is certainly being lost.

**--galley received as part of early review program… (meer)