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Narrated by Auto-narrated
Daniel P. SelmiUnabridged — 9 hours, 16 minutes
Narrated by Auto-narrated
Daniel P. SelmiUnabridged — 9 hours, 16 minutes
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The story behind the historic Mineral King Valley case, which reveals how the Sierra Club battled Disney's ski resort development and launched a new environmental era in America.
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In our current age of climate change-induced panic, it's hard to imagine a time when private groups were not actively enforcing environmental protection laws in the courts. It wasn't until 1972, however, that a David and Goliath-esque Supreme Court showdown involving the Sierra Club and Disney set a revolutionary legal precedent for the era of environmental activism we live in today.
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Set against the backdrop of the environmental movement that swept the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s,*Dawn at Mineral King Valley*tells the surprising story of how the US Forest Service, the Disney company, and the Sierra Club each struggled to adapt to the new, rapidly changing political landscape of environmental consciousness in postwar America. Proposed in 1965 and approved by the federal government in 1969, Disney's vast development plan would have irreversibly altered the practically untouched Mineral King Valley, a magnificently beautiful alpine area in the Sierra Nevada mountains. At first, the plan met with unanimous approval from elected officials, government administrators, and the press-it seemed inevitable that this expanse of wild natural land would be radically changed and turned over to a private corporation. Then the scrappy Sierra Club forcefully pushed back with a lawsuit that ultimately propelled the modern environmental era by allowing interest groups to bring litigation against environmentally destructive projects.
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An expert on environmental law and appellate advocacy, Daniel P. Selmi uses his authoritative narrative voice to recount the complete history of this revolutionary legal battle and the ramifications that continue today, almost 50 years later.
"Selmi. . . conducted extensive research and included both the miscalculations and successes of all participants: the Sierra Club, Disney, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the Departments of Interior and Agriculture. Because of the author’s meticulous analysis of this pivotal story, this book would be an excellent resource for students of public relations, environmental studies, political science, public administration, law, journalism, and more."
Dawn at Mineral King Valley is an entertaining and fast-moving narrative filled with a fascinating collection of environmental stewards, motion picture icons, senior civil servants, fervent lawyers and judges, and legendary politicians. With spectacular background scenery, Selmi tells the story of a single Supreme Court case that affected not just the future of the Mineral King Valley in the California Sierras, but the future of the environment of the entire country.
"One of the most exciting books about U.S. public lands policy ever written."
Dawn at Mineral King is a fascinating account. . . sprinkled with historical gems and gripping storytelling.
Selmi tells the remarkable story of how, against all odds, one of America’s iconic natural resources was saved from destruction just as the modern-day environmental movement was emerging and entering our legal framework. Focusing on an extraordinary array of characters, he conveys the human drama behind this epic environmental struggle. Lawyers and nonlawyers alike will thoroughly enjoy every twist and turn of this fascinating story.
"Selmi has written an important and timely book on a local environmental conflict that has inspired both theoretical debates and institutional reforms."
The Supreme Court’s 1972 decision in Sierra Club v. Morton is one of the seminal cases in US environmental law, but today few experts in the field know how it came to be. Selmi’s deep research and fluid writing bring to light the colorful characters, the internal battles, and the legal intricacies. We see how the decisions of businesses, politicians, and environmental groups, the strategic choices of lawyers, and the philosophies of the justices shaped the case’s outcome and still influence the law half a century later.
Well documented and researched, Dawn at Mineral King Valley plays out a controversy that is as relevant today as it was at the beginning of environmental consciousness. Selmi is a compelling storyteller, exploring the dynamic history of this critical case while weaving in the role of Walt Disney and his company. He provides not only important insight into competing goals but also a pathway to environmental improvement.
"Dawn at Mineral King Valley is a marvelous book. Daniel Selmi's voice is not only that of an authoritative legal scholar, but of an articulate, and forceful, storyteller. The saga of Mineral King as he tells it is an absorbing read and is a major contribution to environmental history in the United States."
"Selmi... ably explores changing attitudes toward the environment and one of the chief means Americans now use in disputes."
01/01/2022
When the Disney Company submitted its 1965 bid to open a ski resort in California's Mineral King Valley, nestled between Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, company administrators were unaware of the vast legal and public ramifications the project would withstand in the coming 13 years. Selmi (Loyola Law Sch., Loyola Marymount Univ.) deftly describes an era when environmental protection was taking center stage in the public eye and how the Sierra Club's fight to conserve the valley from development ushered in a new era for law wherein citizens could sue for environmental cause. The book is broken into three parts—the history of the valley, which falls under the purview of the U.S. Forest Service, and the ski resort proposal; the legal battle between the Sierra Club and the government; and the fate of the valley following the Supreme Court decision granting its conservation. Readers will appreciate that Selmi considers multiple angles of the debate and enjoy the suspense built from shifting narratives throughout each chapter. VERDICT A superb addition to environmental law collections.—Mattie Cook
| BN ID: | 2940191694771 |
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| Publisher: | University of Chicago Press |
| Publication date: | 05/01/2023 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
