Promotional Information

As a journalist, Mark Dowie has always been a few steps ahead of the pack, and with Conservation Refugees he's once again staked out a difficult and fascinating terrain: the indigenous peoples that, all the way back to the founding of Yosemite, have been invisible or worse to the conservation movement. A vision of wilderness that makes no place for people has long held sway in environmental circles, but there are signs it is coming to an end -- and not a moment too soon. Dowie's book advances the critical work of developing a new, more encompassing vision of nature, which makes it one of the most important contributions to conservation in many years. -- Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food Mark Dowie is, pound for pound, one of the best investigative journalists around. -- Studs Terkel, author of Working Unlike a fine wine, Mark Dowie has not mellowed with age. This book proves it. -- John Passacantando, former Executive Director, Greenpeace USA In Conservation Refugees, Mark Dowie quotes delegates to the Fifth World Parks Conference: 'We were dispossessed in the name of kings and emperors, later in the name of state development, and now in the name of conservation.' Miwok, Basarwa, Ogiek, Mursi -- indigenous tribal peoples, like endangered species, are being driven to extinction. Their languages are swiftly dying and we're losing a huge resource in their invaluable knowledge derived from millennia in their respective homelands. Environmentalists, determined to preserve biological systems and entities, should now be equally driven to preserve aboriginal cultures. This is a most useful and important book. -- William Kittredge, author of The Nature of Generosity

About the Author

Award-winning journalist Mark Dowie is the author of Losing Ground- American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century, American Foundations- An Investigative History (both published by the MIT Press), and four other books.

Reviews

A beautiful balance of critique and sympathy.
* Publishers Weekly*

Far from being a hysterical diatribe...this exceptionally researched and documented study provides authoritative guidance toward a diverse and sustainable future.
*Magill Book Reviews*