The River of the Mother of God and Other Essays by Aldo Leopold

Aldo Leopold has been called an American Prophet, the father of wildlife management, & the single most outstanding spokesman for conservation the world has produced. In the public mind his name is inextricably linked with a single work. "A Sand County Almanac," a classic of natural history literature & the conservationist's bible. But Leopold also wrote other books & hundreds of articles & essays. "The River of the Mother of God & Other Essays" brings together the best & most representative of Leopold's essays that are previously unpublished or difficult to find. The earliest essay, "A Tramp in November," was written in 1904 when Leopold was a seventeen-year-old schoolboy; the last, "The Ecological Conscience," in 1947, the year before his death. The sixty essays published here open windows on the intellectual development of a remarkable man who returned throughout his life to recurrent subjects, armed with fresh experience, new information, & critical reflection. To traverse the terrain from "The Varmint Question" (1915), in which wolves & grizzlies are deemed expendable, to "Threatened Species" (1936), which calls explicitly for their protection & restoration, is to observe not only the increasing breadth & penetration of Leopold's own thought but also the maturation of the field of ecology in which he was so seminal a figure. These essays reveal Leopold the activist & advocate as well as Leopold the innovative professional, struggling with the bureaucratic, political, & economic dimensions of conservation.Susan L. Flader is the author of 'The River of the Mother of God and Other Essays by Aldo Leopold' with ISBN 9780299127602 and ISBN 0299127605.