The Green Crusade: Rethinking the Roots of Environmentalism [Paperback]

Charles T. Rubin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

As recently as fifty years ago, the billowing industrial smokestack was a proud symbol of progress and power; today it is an image of unbridled corporate irresponsibility. This change in public attitudes reflects a shift in social values as rapid and profound as any in American history. Its effects are so far-reaching that scarcely anyone imagines there was ever an alternative view of the relationship between human beings and nature. Yet for all the time and energy devoted to discussion of environmentalism as a social and political movement, no one has questioned its existence as a coherent philosophy or given an account of how it first emerged in public consciousness. Most people would assume that the environmental idea, and the powerful political movement it inspired, must have emerged in response to self evident environmental problems such as air and water pollution, acid rain, the human destruction of natural habitats, and the resulting extinction of endangered species. But Charles T. Rubin argues that environmental problems are far from being a matter of common sense. He points out that while such situations almost certainly existed in the past, they were defined in different terms--implying different kinds of social and political solutions. Rubin tells the story of this massive yet strangely unnoticed transformation of public perception and social morality by focusing on the small group of influential writers and thinkers--Rachel Carson, Barry Commoner, Paul Ehrlich, E. F. Schumacher, and others -whose enormously popular writings gave birth to the environmental movement as we know it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Since the publication more than 30 years ago of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring , most people have accepted the need to protect the environment. Yet, claims Rubin, a political science professor at Duquesne University, there is an alarming aspect to the environmental movement. Analyzing the major literature on the subject, he suggests a disquieting political agenda. He finds that an environmental utopia as envisioned by such leading writers in the field as Paul Ehrlich ( The Population Bomb ), Barry Commoner ( The Closing Circle ) and others would lead to a totalitarian state. He charges that Carson deliberately misrepresented some of her findings and that the Club of Rome's The Limits to Growth was part of a PR campaign. He also examines the writings of those who have challenged environmental popularizers, including Julian Simon ( The Ultimate Resource ), James Lovelock ( Healing Gaia ) and Richard John Neuhaus ( In Defense of People ) . Rubin's argument that many environmentalists have failed to recognize the utopian and totalitarian character of their principles is engrossing and provocative.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Rubin (political science, Duquesne Univ.) presents a history of environmental ideas written, he says, for a nonspecialized audience. Tracing a shift in social values from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring to the contemporary deep ecology writers, Rubin explains how the environmental authors became popularizers and how they used or ignored science to present their causes. Rubin argues that each of these writers had or has a political agenda to transform human society, and he offers detailed, analytical criticism of their programs and arguments. His extensive notes will be of interest to the serious reader. Recommended for academic libraries and for public libraries with large environmental collections.
- Patricia Owens, Wabash Valley Coll., Mt. Carmel, Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 1st Rowman & Littlefield Ed edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847688178
• ISBN-13: 978-0847688173
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,958,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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