Customer Reviews

The Eagle Bird: Mapping a New West

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I'm very surprised there were no reviews posted. I read this when I was in law school, probably in 1995, as an optional supplement to our Public Resources Law class, and it made a huge impression on me. I didn't mark up books then like I do now, so giving a detailed review is impossible. One passage I did run across, speaking of the public trust doctrine: "We must press the agencies to acknowledge the trusteeship, and its high duties, as a matter of administrative policy. Officials in the federal land agencies ought not to mince words. They ought to say, with force and pride, 'Yes, we are trustees of the nation's wonders.' Those kinds of pronouncements will help set higher standards and create a climate for principled actions." And, the reason I pulled it off the shelf tonight was because of Ch. 10, "Toward an Ethic of Place." That chapter still resonates with me, 10 or 11 years after reading it. Highly recommended.

This book presents an intriguing attempt to meld scientific, political, environmental and spiritual views of the "west" into a comprehensive story that interprets the past and provides a path to the future. Wilkinson makes a solid effort to examine what is worthy about the mining, timber, Indian and developmental interests and synthesize them.

The title of the book comes from his admiration of how Native American language and concepts capture the grandeur of the west better than the sterile legal language of the European-derived law. He begins the book with an examination of the Native Americans of the western United States and their issues.

The key thesis of his books comes at the end though as the introduces and defends what he calls "an ethic of place". While this concept remains somewhat amorphous to me, I interpreted it as an appreciated for the concept of ecosystems and the inter-relatedness of things. He ends by emphasizing that he has no issues with mining and ranching interests - so long as they follow the priorities of his ethics of place.

This is a decent books, but I hope to find better writing about the west.