Aldo Leopold's Odyssey

by Newton, Julianne Lutz

• ISBN13: 9781597260459
• ISBN10: 1597260452
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-01
• Publisher: Island Pr

Summary

A household icon of the environmental movement, Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) may be the most quoted conservationist in history. A Sand County Almanac has sold millions of copies and his lyrical writings are venerated for their perceptions about land and how people might live in concert with the whole community of life. But who is the man behind the words? How did he arrive at his profound and poetic insights, inspiring generations of environmentalists? Building on past scholarship and a fresh study of Leopold's unpublished archival materials, Julianne Lutz Newton retraces the intellectual journey that generated such passion and intelligence. Aldo Leopold's Odyssey illuminates his lifelong quest for answers to a fundamental issue: how can people live prosperously on the land and keep it healthy, too? Leopold's journey took him from Iowa to Yale to the Southwest to Wisconsin, with fascinating stops along the way to probe the causes of early land settlement failures, contribute to the emerging science of ecology, and craft a new vision for land use. More than a biography, this articulate volume is a guide to one man's intellectual growth, and an inspirational resource for anyone pondering the relationships between people and the land.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction Launching Out	3	(14)
Seed Plots	17	(28)
Written on the Hills	45	(36)
The Middle Border	81	(36)
Interpreting Pharaoh's Dream	117	(28)
An American System	145	(32)
A Common Concept of Land	177	(40)
Ecological Poetry	217	(24)
The Germ and the Juggernaut	241	(25)
Wildlife and the New Man	266	(24)
Knowing Nature	290	(26)
A New Kind of Conservation	316	(37)
Notes	353	(94)
Bibliography	447	(24)
Sources of Illustrations and Excerpts	471	(2)
Index	473