Natural Rivals, John Clayton
Natural Rivals, John Clayton
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Natural Rivals
John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America’s Public Lands

Author: John Clayton

Narrator: Richard Powers

Unabridged: 9 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/26/2019


Synopsis

This dynamic examination traces the lives of two of the most influential figures and their dueling approaches on America’s natural landscape.John Muir, the most famous naturalist in American history, protected Yosemite, cofounded the Sierra Club, and is sometimes called the Father of the National Parks. A poor immigrant, self-taught, individualistic, and skeptical of institutions, he had an idealistic belief in the spiritual benefits of holistic natural systems that led him to a philosophy of preserving wilderness unimpaired.Gifford Pinchot founded the US Forest Service and advised his friend Theodore Roosevelt on environmental policy. Raised in wealth, educated in privilege, and interested in how institutions and community can overcome failures in individual virtue, Pinchot’s pragmatic belief in professional management led him to a philosophy of sustainably conserving natural resources.When these rivaling perspectives meet, what happens? For decades, the story of their relationship has been told as a split between the conservation and preservation philosophies, sparked by a proposal to dam a remote Yosemite valley called Hetch Hetchy. But a decade before that argument, Muir and Pinchot camped together alongside Montana’s jewel-like Lake McDonald in what was at the heart of a region not yet consecrated as Glacier National Park.At stake in 1896 was the new idea that some landscapes should be collectively, permanently owned by a democratic government. Although many people today think of public lands as an American birthright, their very existence was then in doubt and dependent on a merger of the talents of these two men. Natural Rivals examines a time of environmental threat and political dysfunction not unlike our own and reveals the complex dynamic that gave birth to America’s rich public lands legacy.

About John Clayton

John Clayton is an independent journalist, essayist, and historian based in Montana. He is the author of several books, including The Cowboy Girl, which was a finalist for a High Plains Book Award, and Wonderlandscape: Yellowstone National Park and the Evolution of an American Cultural Icon, a Montana Book Award honor book and winner of the High Plains Book Award.

About Richard Powers

Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. His book, The Overstory, won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kelly

Topics covered by this book such as the effort it took to establish national forests and parks, the personalities who participated in that effort, and the mindset of the United States at the time were interesting. Learning more about the objections, the political hurdles, and disagreements and egos......more

Goodreads review by Nick

This book dives deep into the relationship between Muir and Pinchot. One might expect a tempestuous relationship as the ideological fathers of Preservation and Conservative intellectually duke it out. In actuality, they had a moderate friendship and were respectful of each other's points. While hone......more

Goodreads review by Amy

Natural Rivals is an examination of the evolution of public lands: how they came to be, how people have viewed them, and the arguments had over their creation and management. The author does this through the lens of John Muir and Gifford Pinchot, as Muir is typically remembered for preservationist v......more

Goodreads review by Jody

Part biography of Muir and Pinchot, part history lesson on national parks and the fight for public lands. Fantastic book that shows how differing opinions on why something needs to be done does not mean that you can’t share a goal, or that the different viewpoints are not compatible. While I feel I......more

Goodreads review by Bruce

A nice read with a good general overview of the early history of public lands in the United States. The narrative and timeline gets a little confusing at times as the timeline of events within the narrative is not always clear. The author's lofty praise of these two men can be very adjective heavy a......more


Quotes

“Mr. Clayton writes with clarity, passion, and insight. This story is uneasily relevant to today…and may even provide a template for addressing climate change. We need our own John Muir and Gifford Pinchot.” Wall Street Journal

“A crisply written double biography. Clayton paints vivid portraits of each…[and] their preservation versus conservation debate, which still rages.” Booklist

“In this hybrid biography-history…[Clayton] posits that Muir and Pinchot’s differing approaches, far from causing an irreparable rift, balanced each other out…Readers will share Clayton’s hope that a similar ‘marriage of morality and capability’ can help solve today’s most pressing issues.” Publishers Weekly

“[In] his timely book…Clayton looks at the issue of public lands through the lens of these two, seemingly like-minded men: prophet vs. statesman, a romantic vs. a practical man, and Muir’s moral authority vs. Pinchot’s tactical genius…Today, Clayton writes, we need a ‘visionary management framework,’ not ‘culture wars.’ A substantial contribution to understanding our environmental past.” Kirkus Reviews