The Promise of Wilderness

"This rich history has many important lessons for those who work for wilderness protection today."—Doug Scott, Friends of Allegheny Wilderness newsletter, June 2012

"Turner’s account is a sophisticated, fresh interpretation, especially for the insights it provides on environmental politics in the 1970s and 1980s. This work pushes beyond the received wisdom in important ways, rethinking the chronology of change, venturing into previously unexplored topical territory, and transforming environmental history into a social-environmental history hybrid."—Chad Montrie, American Historical Review, October 2013

"James Turner offers a compelling narrative of U.S. environmental politics that answers and reformulates such questions for scholars, policy insiders, and anyone who has ever marveled at the eloquence of a wilderness area sign. Turner’s landmark new book shows that [wilderness preservation] was perennially inclusive and cutting-edge."—Josh Ashenmiller, Pacific Historical Review, August 2013

"Turner's research is deep, his writing strong, and his argument persuasive. The Promise of Wilderness is sure to become the standard work. It is an outstanding achievement."—Adam M. Sowards, Montana, The Magazine of Western History Spring 2013

"His engaging analysis suggests a complex tale of political ideology, science, and pragmatism that shaped the expansion of wilderness areas throughout the US. Turner's book is a compelling and detailed read, worthy of attention by scholars and students alike. Highly recommended."—Choice, January 2013

"A fascinating account of the environmental movement in the second half of the century, one that should find a prominent place not only in environmental history but also in political history and the history of the twentieth century . . . an interpretation of the late-twentieth-century wilderness movement that should remain definitive for a long time."—Keith Woodhouse, US Intellectual History, August 2012

"The Promise of Wilderness will be read with pleasure by all who enjoy— and realize they must act politically to protect— the untrammeled great outdoors."—Rupert Cutler, former Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, Roanoke Times, July 2012

"James Morton Turner here gives us a highly detailed, exquisitely researched, and exciting account of the nearly 50 years of political, social, and cultural history of the environmental struggle since the act [Wilderness Act of 1964], using wilderness as the flashpoint of that massive endeavor—an endeavor even more important today than it was a half century ago."—Francis Moul, Great Plains Research Vol. 24, No. 1

"A new crop of conservation historians is pushing up new interpretations of wilderness conservation. Jay Turner is a star of these new historians and his book, The Promise of Wilderness, well deserves reading by anyone who loves wilderness and wants to keep it. I hope it sparks lively discussion around the campfire."—Dave Foreman, author of Rewilding North America and founder of The Rewilding Institute

"James Turner's insightful book demonstrates the continued vitality and centrality of wilderness within American environmentalism."—Mark Harvey, author of Wilderness Forever: Howard Zahniser and the Path to the Wilderness Act

"A superb study of the implementation of the Wilderness Act, and a springboard for a new period in wilderness thought and advocacy."—Paul Sutter, author of Driven Wild: How the Fight Against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement

"The most deeply researched, analytically rigorous, and elegantly written study of American wilderness politics since the 1960s yet produced."—William Cronon , from the Foreword