- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (Mar 15 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1559635282
- ISBN-13: 978-1559635288
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.5 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 318 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,217,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In 13 essays, Orr, professor of environmental studies and politics at Oberlin, critiques what he says is the current Bush administration's lack of environmental policy and calls for a more engaged citizenry. Orr sets the scene by relating a 2001 meeting with noncommittal White House staffers in which he and other leading environmentalists presented an environmental status report, entitled "Common Ground/Common Futures." "The news was delivered," he writes. "But no one was home." The present state of environmental affairs, he says, reflects "an unconstrained managerial and well-armed plutocracy intent on global plunder." Orr advocates a coherent environmental agenda, vigorous public information, restored political leadership and increased emphasis on environmental study in higher education. Specific essays focus on particular figures in the debate: one exposes Bjorn Lomberg, a favorite author of Dick Cheney's, as "scientifically dishonest," while another praises writer Wendell Berry's commitment to agrarian ideals. Perhaps the most informative essay in the collection, entitled "Leverage," examines the meager patchwork of U.S. environmental regulations and the nation's libertarian tendencies. Orr's politics will be familiar to all left-wing readers. There is little originality in his criticisms of the right and its attitude toward natural resources and energy efficiency. Orr's writing is steeped in sometimes utopian antimodern longings for small family farms, ecologically sound urban planning, increased public transportation and ecological diversity. While it's not hard to imagine how these essays might energize a readership committed to Orr's brand of politics, their rhetoric is too repetitive and ponderously moralizing to win wider audiences for their ideas.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels" - SAMUEL JOHNSON, 1775 "a tightly reasoned, excellently written book that should be lethally effective in helping readers who aren't experts understand the contours of the crisis." - TOLEDO BLADE"
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timely Book,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror (Hardcover)
This book echoed my feelings exactly. Issues about the environment should be brought to the forefront of the national discussion...give this book to anyone influential you know and make them read it!
5.0 out of 5 stars
its a good book,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror (Hardcover)
In stark contrast to his earlier book, "Earth in Mind", Orr rids himself of any hesitancy to appease, and states the true state of American politics from an environmentalist perspectives. The essays are clear and lucid. It is a good book.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best nonfiction book I've ever read,
By John L. Hartmann "enviro guy" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror (Hardcover)
The Last Refuge is indeed the best nonfiction book I've ever read, and all I read is nonfiction, and a lot of it. I am now into my second reading of this valuable book! David Orr is my favorite environmental author. Known by some as the "sane environmentalist", Orr is not one to do anything other than tell it to us straight. With a wonderful writing style, Orr writes for the laymen. Covering everthing from campaign finance change necessities to control of corporate charters to a proposed environmental amendment to the Constitution, Orr gives a forthright, authentic, and thorough overview of the "Great Work" (Citing Thomas Berry's wonderful book)and the things that must be doone in politics to achieve a world where poverty, hunger, pollution, species extinction and more are dealt with and ended. David Orr cites our need to update our Constiitution (A living document, meaning able to be changed) to allow for the reeling in of corporate mega abuse of our world so that suceeding generations can have a world that enables the pursuit of happiness. This book is full of great ideas and wisdom and again, it is written in a way that anyone can understand it. This book needs to be read by folks all over the country!!! I would give it 10 stars if I could!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
its a good book,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror (Hardcover)
In stark contrast to his earlier book, "Earth in Mind", Orr rids himself of any hesitancy to appease, and states the true state of American politics from an environmentalist perspectives. The essays are clear and lucid. It is a good book.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Important, But Not Up to Orr's Usual Standards,
By Jeremy Raymondjack - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror (Hardcover)
There are really only a couple of dynamite essays in this book. The rest are, sad to say, fairly middle of the road. I had read two of Orr's other books, "Earth in Mind" and "Ecological Literacy," which were absolutely stunning. But this effort is uneven. There are certainly many practical and revolutionary suggestions for turning our earth's fate around, but most of them have been taken up with more conviction and detail by other authors. There is a nagging sense here that Orr is kind of late to the game in some of his ideas, like undermining the idea of corporate personhood, or amending the constitution to include ecological concerns for our descendents.So while I do recommend this book, especially because Orr is such a graceful writer, I would suggest supplementing it with some harder hitting recent material (maybe "Unequal Protection" by Thom Hartmann, "Beyond Civilization," by Daniel Quinn, or the collection of work done by POCLAD, "Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy," available on www.poclad.org). |
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