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.
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.
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