Ben A. Minteer's Books

The Landscape of Reform

Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in America

By: Ben A. Minteer

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The Landscape of Reform

Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in America

By: Ben A. Minteer

In The Landscape of Reform Ben Minteer offers a fresh and provocative reading of the intellectual foundations of American environmentalism, focusing on the work and legacy of four important conservation and planning thinkers in the first half of the twentieth century: Liberty Hyde Bailey, a forgotten figure in the Progressive conservation movement; urban and regional planning theorist Lewis Mumford; Benton MacKaye, the forester and conservationist who proposed the Appalachian Trail in the 1920s; and Aldo Leopold, author of the environmentalist classic A Sand County Almanac . Minteer argues that these writers blazed a significant "third way" in environmental ethics and practice, a more pragmatic approach that offers a counterpoint to the anthropocentrism-versus-ecocentrism—use-versus-preservation—narrative that has long dominated discussions of the development of American environmental thought. Minteer shows that the environmentalism of Bailey, Mumford, MacKaye, and Leopold was also part of a larger moral and political program, one that included efforts to revitalize democratic citizenship, conserve regional culture and community identity, and reclaim a broader understanding of the public interest that went beyond economics and materialism. Their environmental thought was an attempt to critique and at the same time reform American society and political culture. Minteer explores the work of these four environmental reformers and considers two present-day manifestations of an environmental third way: Natural Systems Agriculture, an alternative to chemical and energy-intensive industrial agriculture; and New Urbanism, an attempt to combat the negative effects of suburban sprawl. By rediscovering the pragmatic roots of American environmentalism, writes Minteer, we can help bring about a new, civic-minded environmentalism today.

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Page Count

275

Publisher

MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262134616

ISBN 13

9780262134613

Wild Visions

Wilderness as Image and Idea

By: Ben A. Minteer,Mark Klett,Stephen J. Pyne

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Wild Visions

Wilderness as Image and Idea

By: Ben A. Minteer,Mark Klett,Stephen J. Pyne

A stunning combination of landscape photography and thematic essays exploring how the concept of wilderness has evolved over time Our ideas of wilderness have evolved dramatically over the past one hundred and fifty years, from a view of wild country as an inviolable "place apart" to one that exists only within the matrix of human activity. This shift in understanding has provoked complicated questions about the importance of the wild in American environmentalism, as well as new aesthetic expectations as we reframe the wilderness as (to some degree) a human creation. Wild Visions is distinctive in its union of landscape photography and environmental thought, a merging of short, thematic essays with a striking visual narrative. Often, the wild is viewed in binary terms: either revered as sacred and ecologically pure or dismissed as spoiled by human activities. This book portrays wilderness instead as an evolving gamut of understandings, a collage of views and ideas that is still in process.

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Page Count

248

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300260725

ISBN 13

9780300260724

The Fall of the Wild

Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation

By: Ben A. Minteer

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The Fall of the Wild

Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation

By: Ben A. Minteer

The passenger pigeon, the great auk, the Tasmanian tiger—the memory of these vanished species haunts the fight against extinction. Seeking to save other creatures from their fate in an age of accelerating biodiversity loss, wildlife advocates have become captivated by a narrative of heroic conservation efforts. A range of technological and policy strategies, from the traditional, such as regulations and refuges, to the novel—the scientific wizardry of genetic engineering and synthetic biology—seemingly promise solutions to the extinction crisis. In The Fall of the Wild, Ben A. Minteer calls for reflection on the ethical dilemmas of species loss and recovery in an increasingly human-driven world. He asks an unsettling but necessary question: Might our well-meaning efforts to save and restore wildlife pose a threat to the ideal of preserving a world that isn’t completely under the human thumb? Minteer probes the tension between our impulse to do whatever it takes and the risk of pursuing strategies that undermine our broader commitment to the preservation of wildness. From collecting wildlife specimens for museums and the wilderness aspirations of zoos to visions of “assisted colonization” of new habitats and high-tech attempts to revive long-extinct species, he explores the scientific and ethical concerns vexing conservation today. The Fall of the Wild is a nuanced treatment of the deeper moral issues underpinning the quest to save species on the brink of extinction and an accessible intervention in debates over the principles and practice of nature conservation.

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Page Count

152

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231548885

ISBN 13

9780231548885

The Fall of the Wild

Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation

By: Ben A. Minteer

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The Fall of the Wild

Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation

By: Ben A. Minteer

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152

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Columbia University Press

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ISBN 10

0231548885

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9780231548885

The Landscape of Reform

Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in America

By: Ben A. Minteer

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The Landscape of Reform

Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in America

By: Ben A. Minteer

A study of the pragmatic roots of American environmentalism--as seen in the work of Liberty Hyde Bailey, Lewis Mumford, Benton MacKaye, and Aldo Leopold--and how it can inform a new, civic-minded environmentalism today.

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Page Count

264

Publisher

MIT Press (MA)

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262279916

ISBN 13

9780262279918

Book's by Ben A. Minteer

The Landscape of Reform

The Landscape of Reform

Wild Visions

Wild Visions

The Fall of the Wild

The Fall of the Wild

The Fall of the Wild

The Fall of the Wild

The Landscape of Reform

The Landscape of Reform

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