Let the People Judge: Wise Use And The Private Property Rights Movement [Paperback]

John Echeverria (Editor), Ray Eby (Editor), Grant Ferrier (Contributor), Suzanne Iudicello (Contributor), Jack Archer (Contributor), Mary Ann Glendon (Contributor), Carl Safina (Contributor), Thomas Eisner (Contributor), Michael Bliss (Contributor), Donald Connors (Contributor), Randall Snodgrass (Contributor), Beverly Reece (Contributor), Tom H. Watkins (Contributor), Roy Morgan (Contributor), Jim Bernfield (Contributor), Neil Hamilton (Contributor), Beth Parke (Contributor), Sharon Dennis (Contributor), Janet Ellis (Contributor), Don Judge (Contributor), Robert Ekey (Contributor), Thomas Michael Power (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1995

One of the most serious challenges to environmentalism that has emerged in the 1990s is the so-called Wise Use movement. While operating under the guise of an independent movement of small landowners, it is in reality a backlash against environmental protection measures, funded and organized by corporations with a vested interest in preventing further environmental gains.

Let the People Judge collects the writings of a wide range of thinkers on the Wise Use movement and the controversies that fuel the Wise Use debate.

Product Details

• Paperback: 381 pages
• Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559632771
• ISBN-13: 978-1559632775
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,310,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly useful as history, as most of the articles are now outdated, December 22, 2010

By 

Arthur Digbee (Indianapolis, IN, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Let the People Judge: Wise Use And The Private Property Rights Movement (Paperback)

This book collects a mix of different types of articles, including newspaper and magazine commentary, short academic pieces, congressional testimony, advice for activists, and various items written specifically for this volume. As you might expect, some of these have aged better than others over the last 15 years. Others are historical curiosities now.

All the contributors take an environmentalist's perspective on the "wise use movement," a coalition of rural westerners and national companies who believe that environmental regulations cost both jobs and profits. Some contributors are sympathetic to the concerns of rural communities but they remain outsiders. It would have been helpful if the editors had solicited comments from the mix of WUM advocates, including local loggers and ranchers, motorized recreationists, and large resource extraction companies. As it is, the book remains dangerously one-sided, a bunch of environmentalists working themselves up over "those people" and "big corporations."

That said, there's a healthy breadth of issues presented here, including even fisheries. There's a big group of papers on the "takings" question, which remains a live issue. If you've run across this item on Amazon, then you'll probably find it useful. Given its age, you'll probably find yourself dipping in and out of the book rather than reading it straight through. The "current events" pieces are outdated but some histories of the WUM or analyses of specific topics will remain useful.