{"product_id":"natural-rivals-john-muir-gifford-pinchot-and-the-creation-of-americas-public-lands-9781643130804","title":"Natural Rivals: John Muir  Gifford Pinchot  and the Creation of America's Public Lands","description":"\u003cp\u003eA dynamic examination that traces the lives of two of the most influential figuresand their dueling approacheson Americas natural landscape.  John Muir  the most famous naturalist in American history  protected Yosemite  co-founded the Sierra Club  and is sometimes called the Father of the National Parks. A poor immigrant  self-taught  individualistic  and skeptical of institutions  his idealistic belief in the spiritual benefits of holistic natural systems led him to a philosophy of preserving wilderness unimpaired.  Gifford Pinchot founded the U.S. Forest Service and advised his friend Theodore Roosevelt on environmental policy. Raised in wealth  educated in privilege  and interested in how institutions and community can overcome failures in individual virtue  Pinchots pragmatic belief in professional management led him to a philosophy of sustainably conserving natural resources.  When these rivaling perspectives meet  what happens? For decades  the story of their relationship has been told as a split between the conservation and preservation philosophies  sparked by a proposal to dam a remote Yosemite valley called Hetch Hetchy. But a decade before that argument  Muir and Pinchot camped together alongside Montanas jewel-like Lake McDonald in  which was at the heart of a region not yet consecrated as Glacier National Park.  At stake in 1896 was the new idea that some landscapes should be collectively  permanently owned by a democratic government. Although many people today think of public lands as an American birthright  their very existence was then in doubt  and dependent on a merger of the talents of these two men. Natural Rivals examines a time of environmental threat and political dysfunction not unlike our own  and reveals the complex dynamic that gave birth to Americas rich public lands legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67894609969205,"sku":"ByrdShop_1643130803","price":36.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781643130804.jpg?v=1793766703","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/natural-rivals-john-muir-gifford-pinchot-and-the-creation-of-americas-public-lands-9781643130804","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}