Customer Reviews

Aldo Leopold's Southwest

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This book provides an excellent chance to learn more about Aldo Leopold, one of the most important conservationists ever. The editors have assembled a highly instructive sample of Leopold's essays and articles written throughout his career. The essays provide insights into Leopold's development from a predator-destroying wildlife manager to world-class conservationist. The editors' introductory essays to sets of Leopold's writings are themselves first-rate. Brown and Carmony provide the reader with the historical context for understanding the significance of Leopold's essays as his career unfolded. Highly recommended.

Aldo Leopold was a master in the science, practice, and philosophy of land conservation and appreciation. He grew up in Iowa, studied in New Jersey and Connecticut, but had his first lasting and significant encounter with wild nature in the Southwest of the United States. He went to Arizona before it became a state in the Union. The stories and lessons from his time there remained with him for his entire life. (As did his wife Estella, who also came from Arizona.) The most moving essays in his masterwork "Sand County Almanac" are set in Arizona and New Mexico.

The essays collected in this volume come from his early years in the Southwest rather than from his later reflections. They are full of enthusiasm and critical thinking, but they lack the splendid evocative writing of his mature style.

A special treat of this book are the brief notes on each essay by editors David Brown and Neil Carmony. In an essay, Leopold might make a certain deduction concerning some facet of land use. Brown and Carmony then remark on whether additional research has supported or overturned that deduction. Leopold might make a certain policy recommendation. Brown and Carmony tell whether the policy was adopted and whether it had the desired effect. The editors admirably resist the tug of hagiography, and give frank assessments of Leopold's shortcomings as well has his foresightedness.

I'll be straightforward: I loved this book. But I'm a Leopold fanatic -- I'd love anything he wrote. If you're not yet a fanatic, I recommend that you start with "Sand County Almanac", then move on to either "River of the Mother of God" or "For the Health of the Land". Once you're hooked, you'll enjoy this volume as much as I did.