It was like no other library: not a musty, mute archive but a bustling center of activity and voice of advocacy. It brought together otherwise combative parties--sportsmen, lumbermen, librarians, politicians, even disputing activists--as it helped redefine what environmentalism means in America.

Denver's Conservation Library was established in 1960 as a repository for environmental and conservation documents. In chronicling its history, Andrew Kirk also traces the cultural history of American environmentalism as viewed through the lens of this unique institution. He tells how this library...

For those who eagerly awaited its periodic appearance, it was more than a publication: it was a way of life. The Whole Earth Catalog billed itself as "Access to Tools," and it grew from a Bay Area blip to a national phenomenon catering to hippies, do-it-yourselfers, and anyone interested in self-sufficiency independent of mainstream America.

In recovering the history of the Catalog's unique brand of environmentalism, Andrew Kirk recounts how San Francisco's Stewart Brand and his counterculture cohorts in the Point Foundation promoted a philosophy of pragmatic environmentalism that...

This essay collection explores the concept of human nature and how it influences human perceptions of nature or the environment. Historians and other writers have tended to assume that all humans share specific basic responses to the natural environment. Over time, interpretations of human nature have ranged from rigid biological determinism to subtle and fluid evolutionary ecology. The authors open interpretive doors into how biology, sociobiology, gender, race, culture, society, and other variables shape human discourse on nature and the environment. These essays were first delivered at the...

For those who eagerly awaited its periodic appearance, it was more than a publication: it was a way of life. The Whole Earth Catalog billed itself as "Access to Tools," and it grew from a Bay Area blip to a national phenomenon catering to hippies, do-it-yourselfers, and anyone interested in self-sufficiency independent of mainstream America.

In recovering the history of the Catalog's unique brand of environmentalism, Andrew Kirk recounts how San Francisco's Stewart Brand and his counterculture cohorts in the Point Foundation promoted a philosophy of pragmatic environmentalism that...