Leave It As It Is, David Gessner
Leave It As It Is, David Gessner
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
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Leave It As It Is
A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt's American Wilderness

Author: David Gessner

Narrator: Fred Sanders

Unabridged: 12 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/11/2020


Synopsis

Bestselling author David Gessner’s wilderness road trip inspired by America’s greatest conservationist, Theodore Roosevelt, is “a rallying cry in the age of climate change” (Robert Redford).

“Leave it as it is,” Theodore Roosevelt announced while viewing the Grand Canyon for the first time. “The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.” Roosevelt’s pronouncement signaled the beginning of an environmental fight that still wages today. To reconnect with the American wilderness and with the president who courageously protected it, acclaimed nature writer and New York Times bestselling author David Gessner embarks on a great American road trip guided by Roosevelt’s crusading environmental legacy.

Gessner travels to the Dakota badlands where Roosevelt awakened as a naturalist; to Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon where Roosevelt escaped during the grind of his reelection tour; and finally, to Bears Ears, Utah, a monument proposed by Native Tribes that is currently embroiled in a national conservation fight. Along the way, Gessner questions and reimagines Roosevelt’s vision for today’s lands.

“Insightful, observant, and wry,” (BookPage) Leave It As It Is offers an arresting history of Roosevelt’s pioneering conservationism, a powerful call to arms, and a profound meditation on our environmental future.

About David Gessner

David Gessner is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestseller All the Wild That Remains. He has taught environmental writing as a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer at Harvard and is currently a professor and department chair at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where he founded the award-winning literary journal Ecotone. Gessner lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.


Reviews

Goodreads review by John

I attacked this book w/ Teddy-like vigor and enthusiasm. All that I can say is, “Bully!” Like my friend and colleague David, I find TR endlessly fascinating, and a bit frustrating. Yet, besides his amazing energy, determination, and intellectual depth and versatility, it is TR’s capacity for adaptat......more

Goodreads review by JJ

An amazing testament of what TR did to help preserve our land, while not brushing aside his many flaws. Even for someone who believes themself somewhat of an environmentalist, this book is eye-opening and helps one to realize it may be best to sacrifice one’s love for nature, for the good of that na......more

Goodreads review by Tyler

Teddy Roosevelt and our public land. Our parks and monuments are to be cherished, to be explored, and to be left alone. They are the last remaining artifacts that connect us with an ancient American world. The fight for Bears Ears and the natives is one we’ve seen before, politicians being ignorant......more

Goodreads review by Eddie

My review is here......more


Quotes

"Theodore Roosevelt is rightly remembered as a champion of the American wilderness. This audiobook chronicles the author's journey through the lands that most inspired the president. Fred Sanders offers a smooth, even narration. There is reverence in his tone when delivering descriptions of the natural world and deep emotion when rendering the author's pleas for a renewed national commitment to conservation."