The River of the Mother of God: and other Essays by Aldo Leopold [Paperback]

Aldo Leopold (Author), J. Baird Callicott (Editor), Susan L. Flader (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 1992

His name is inextricably linked with a single work, A Sand County Almanac, a classic of natural history literature and the conservationist's bible. This book brings together the best of Leopold's essays.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of conservationist Leopold's ( A Sand County Almanac ) writings, spanning the years 1904-1947, traces the development of his environmentalism. Illustrations.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Leopold was a renowned conservationist and educator who devoted his life to preservation of the natural environment. His classic work, Sand County Almanac (1949; Oxford Univ. Pr., 1989. pap.), is still used as the conservationists' bible. Flader and Callicott have compiled a collection of Leopold's unpublished essays from the archives of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and published papers from a variety of periodicals covering the years 1904-47. The chronological arrangement of the 59 essays reveals the development of Leopold's beliefs over time. A short introduction describing the circumstances in which it was written and the intended audience precedes each essay. A biographical chronology and the introduction trace Leopold's life. Recommended for environmental collections.
-Irwin Weintraub, Rutgers Univ. Libs., Piscataway,
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press (December 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299127648
• ISBN-13: 978-0299127640
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Natural History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear thinking, eloquent writing, October 26, 1999

By 

Daniel F. Styer (Wakeman, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The River of the Mother of God: and other Essays by Aldo Leopold (Paperback)

"Sand County Almanac" presents Leopold's thoughts and impressions concerning nature and conservation. This book shows Leopold in a far wider context. Leopold held many jobs and had many hobbies in his full life: forest ranger, administrator, hunter, game manager, laboratory director, wilderness traveler, professor. Every time he encountered a new situation he thought about it deeply and creatively, and recorded his thoughts in vivid, non-technical essays, many of which are collected in this book.

I was particulaly impressed by Leopold's thoughtfullness -- that he reached his conclusions not by following the majority nor by catering to the powerful nor by jerking his knee, but by deep and clear thinking. Reading these essays renders vivid the fact that current public discourse is dominated by power play and snide insults rather than by civil, reasoned debate.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Prophetic Words of Aldo Leopold, August 21, 2004

By 

MZ (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The River of the Mother of God: and other Essays by Aldo Leopold (Paperback)

Readers of outdoor ethics and conservation philosophy have likely seen collections of Aldo Leopold's essays elsewhere, but I doubt you will find a more diverse and wide-ranging collection than this. Browse the brief chronologic summary of his life and then skip the lengthy introduction (for now), and you will get to the meat of this book. It starts with an essay written by Aldo Leopold as a high school student. From there, the path of essays winds its way like a river through his life, with many stops along the way. The reader can see how Mr. Leopold's outlook matured and changed over time; from such things as a letter to a newspaper editor, to my favorite: an introductory lecture from the first college course he taught. What I would give to go back in time and be a student in that classroom!

Aldo Leopold may be gone, but his body of work remains. His written work has proven to be prophetic. We still face many of the same conservation problems that we faced in the early 1900s; some of these problems have worsened. As a society, we have to realize that we cannot go on repeating our past mistakes. There are solutions to these problems. And the words of Aldo Leopold hold some of the answers.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection of essays, August 1, 2011

By 

Steve Mccoon "Waterboy" (Walla Walla, WA. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The River of the Mother of God: and other Essays by Aldo Leopold (Paperback)

This is a great collection of Aldo Leopold essays, with short intros to each one.
Great read and a must have for fans of Aldo Leopold.