Otis L. Graham

This book traces the history of the environmental movement through presidential action (or inaction), starting with Benjamin Harrison. It is recent enough to include approximately half of Obama's second term. The book is a valuable resource to those interested in the intersection of science and politics where the environment is concerned, and wondering why Richard Nixon was one of our most environmental (and most anti-environmental) presidents. There are multiple editing errors that lost this book a complete star, not the least of which was the blatantly wrong figure that we had lost half of our 1.4 million acres of wetlands, leaving us with only 556 million acres...oops. Other editing errors, combined with some rather incoherent sentences, detracted from an otherwise great book, and some interesting exclusions, such as the battle over the grey wolf that marked the period of transition between Bush 43 and Obama, and which would have fit in nicely with his discussion. Overall, a good resource, as long as you are able to do math for yourself.… (mehr)