In 2006, Julianne Lutz Warren (née Newton) asked readers to rediscover one of history's most renowned conservationists. Aldo Leopold's Odyssey was hailed by The New York Times as a "biography of ideas," making "us feel the loss of what might have followed A Sand County Almanac by showing us in authoritative detail what led up to it". Warren's astute narrative quickly became an essential part of the Leopold canon, introducing new readers to the father of wildlife ecology and offering a fresh perspective to even the most seasoned scholars.
A decade later, as our very concept of wilderness is changing, Warren frames Leopold's work in the context of the Anthropocene. With a new preface and foreword by Bill McKibben, Aldo Leopold's Odyssey underscores the ever-growing importance of Leopold's ideas in an increasingly human-dominated landscape.
Drawing on unpublished archives, Warren traces Leopold's quest to define and preserve land health. Leopold's journey took him from Iowa to Yale to the Southwest to Wisconsin, with fascinating stops along the way to probe the causes of early land settlement failures, contribute to the emerging science of ecology, and craft a new vision for land use.
Leopold's life was dedicated to one fundamental dilemma: how can people live prosperously on the land and keep it healthy, too? For anyone compelled by this question, the Tenth Anniversary Edition of Aldo Leopold's Odyssey offers insight and inspiration.
Foreword by Bill McKibben
2016 Preface
2006 Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Seed Plots
Chapter 2. Written on the Hills
Chapter 3. The Middle Border
Chapter 4. Interpreting Pharaoh's Dream
Chapter 5. An American System
Chapter 6. A Common Concept of Land
Chapter 7. Ecological Poetry
Chapter 8. The Germ and the Juggernaut
Chapter 9. Wildlife and the New Man
Chapter 10. Knowing Nature
Chapter 11. A New Kind of Conservation
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Julianne Lutz Warren is a professor of environmental studies at New York University and a fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including Conservation Biology, Journal of Environmental History, and American Scientist.
"Julianne Lutz Newton makes us feel the loss of what might have followed A Sand County Almanac by showing us in authoritative detail what led up to it. The result is a biography of ideas, a map of how far Leopold had moved between 1909 [...] and his death [...] "
– The New York Times Book Review
"Aldo Leopold's Odyssey enriches our appreciation of both Leopold and A Sand County Almanac."
– Science
"Lucid and perceptive."
– Natural History
"Superb [...] a full and fascinating portrait."
– American Scientist