Choice Review

Recent decades have seen an outpouring of environmental histories, most of them covering such well-known personalities as John Muir and Rachel Carson or radical movements such as deep ecology or the Greens. As a result, US environmentalism is usually seen as a product of middle-class leisure and academic philosophizing. Though the role of these "elites" is perhaps undervalued here, this slim volume certainly makes up for earlier neglect of working-class priorities. Montrie (Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell) traces US environmentalism back to the early 19th century, when industrialization galvanized ordinary working people to clamor for safer working conditions and, by extension, corporate and government attention to industry's assault on nature. Hunting and recreation were the first concern, but organized agitation to protect the diminishing wilderness of the US soon followed. From New England "mill girls" to UAW summer camps, ordinary people have always organized to protect nature--and for a wide variety of reasons. The author casts the story in terms of class conflict and demonstrates that labor unions and other leftist movements have always been on the cutting edge of environmentalism, regardless of changing priorities. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. T. S. Martin Sinclair Community College