Wayne Aspinall and the Shaping of the American West [Hardcover]

Steven C. Schulte (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002

Steven C Schulte details a political career that encompassed some of the most crucial years in the development of the twentieth-century West. As chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee from 1959 to 1973, Aspinall shaped the nation's reclamation, land, wilderness, and natural resource policies. His crusty and determined personality was at the centre of some of the key environmental battles of the twentieth century, including the Echo Park Dam fight, the struggle for the Wilderness Act, and the long controversy over the Central Arizona Project.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...finely crafted volume...This valuable biography belongs on the shelves of all those interested in western politics, environmentalism, and the changing culture and landscape of the twentieth-century American West." -- Mark Harvey, South Dakota History, Spring 2003

About the Author

Steven C Schulte

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Colorado; First Edition edition (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870816659
• ISBN-13: 978-0870816659
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,572,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ecology never entered his thinking, December 30, 2004

By 

George Alderson (Catonsville, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wayne Aspinall and the Shaping of the American West (Hardcover)

This is a masterful biography of a congressman who was a central figure at mid-20th Century, when our national conservation policies were being transformed to protect natural values of the land. Wayne N. Aspinall (Democrat of Colorado) was chairman of a committee that handled the Wilderness Act and many national park laws. The author makes it clear that Mr. Aspinall never understood the public's desire to protect irreplaceable wild places, and the concept of ecology never entered his thinking. To his dying day he regarded parks and wilderness as frivolous. For 15 years he used his power as chairman to delay every conservation measure, and he extracted concessions favoring mining, logging and grazing industries. It's worthwhile to read how he did it, because there are still a few legislators with his viewpoint in Congress.

For a contrasting biography, read "Mo: the Life and Times of Morris K. Udall," by Donald W. Carson and James W. Johnson, about a legislator who followed Mr. Aspinall as chairman and led Congress in adding more land to the National Park System than ever before.