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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding autobiography of a Delaware (and global) hero, June 11, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Rebel With a Conscience (Hardcover)
As a native Delawarian born in the early 70s, I am not old enough to remember Governor Peterson's term of office, but I am thankful for the legacy he has left our State. His book is an excellent account of his ability to enter the corporate and political arena and remain true to his cause. Whenever I drive north from beautiful Lower Delaware on Rt 13, it's readily apparent when I pass the disgusting oil refineries, landfills, and chemical factories of New Castle County that his diligence in the early 70s held the line against further industrial development and destruction of the Delaware coast. Hopefully, his efforts to revamp the downtrodden waterfront of our largest city, Wilmington, will meet with the same success as his other endeavors. If you want to read about what a politician, a citizen, and a human being should strive to be then read this book. The accompanying CD ROM is also interesting, informative, and very well conceived.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Conviction and integrity can produce small miracles., March 17, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Rebel With a Conscience (Hardcover)
If you doubt that one can raise hell from within the system, and still get great results, read Russ Peterson's memoir "Rebel with a Conscience." This PhD. industrial chemist turned governor, federal policy maker, global environmentalist, and world reformer has devoted his life to rebelling against the status quo - while still compiling an imppressive list of accomplishments.As governor of Delaware, Peterson defeated the powerful oil industry lobby - and his former employer DuPont - by declaring Delaware's coastline off-limits to industrial development. He went on to chair the President's Council on Environmental Quality, implementing environmental policy even as colleagues in the Nixon adn Ford Administrations worked to thwart his efforts. At one Cabinet meeting, Peterson told President Ford he was wrong to allow the use of poison to kill animals on public lands. This shockedd the other attendees. After the meeting, Vice Pres. Rockefeller told Peterson that you were not supposed to tell a president he was wrong. As it turned out, he had in fact changed the president's mind. Later as Director of congress' Office of Technology Assessment, Petrson overcame fierce opposition from powerful senators to depoliticize that agency and increase its effectiveness. Peterson went on to become president of the National Audubon Society. In that job and others he led battles against world poverty and nuclear war while pushing far-sighted environmental reforms, population control, and alternate energy futures. Today at 82 he remains hard at work helping revive the Wilmington Delaware waterfront - and having switched from Republican to Democrat - helping select candidates in his new party. Not surprisingly, Peterson has often paid a price for his rebelion. A promising career at DuPont was derailed, he argues in the book, when he moved to promote blacks in his organization. He was defeated for reelection as governor in part by alienating powerful political and business interests. But having decided upon a course of action, he will not be denied. No public opinion poll or pressure point will make him change course. The 7th of 8 sons, he was the first in his family to attend high school. His determination has long attracted him to challenges that conventional leaders - unwillng to upset conventional wisdom or take on the power structure - avoid. Those who doubt that conviction and integrity can underpin a successful career would do well to read this book and view the accompanying CD-ROM - one more innovation from this rebel with a conscience Chris Perry Free-lance writer and former assistant to Governor Peterson
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excerpts from the foreword by Peter Matthiessen, April 7, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Rebel With a Conscience (Hardcover)
In his foreword Peter Matthiessen writes that this book is an "inspiring account of an exceptionally valuable life of public service." He cites Russ Peterson as very rare and interesting, "an independent citizen who holds fervently to the democratic principles at the heart of our Constitution and applies them to the broader vision of man's place on earth which must deal with 'the global predicament' if our beleaguered world is to survive." "Far more than most conservationists, Dr.Peterson understood that environmental problems are not separable from social problems - poverty, world populations, the growing and dangerous inequities between rich and poor - all problems to which the Grand Old Party under Regan-Bush was increasingly indifferent." "Since Russ Peterson for many years was closely associated with large industry, his book is an invaluable resource for all those in the business world who seek to support the fight for environmental and social progress at whatever level."
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