Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement / Edition 2

by Robert Gottlieb

Overview

Originally published in 1993, Forcing the Spring was quickly recognized as a seminal work in the field of environmental history. The book links the environmental movement that emerged in the 1960s to earlier movements that had not previously been defined as environmental. It was the first to consider the importance of race, ethnicity, class, and gender issues in the history and evolution of environmentalism.

This revised edition extends the groundbreaking history and analysis of Forcing the Spring into the present day. It updates the original with important new material that brings the book's themes and arguments into the 21st century, addressing topics such as: the controversy spawned by the original edition with regard to how environmentalism is, or should be, defined; new groups and movements that have formed in the past decade; change and development in the overall environmental movement from 1993 to 2004; the changing role of race, class, gender, and ethnicity in today's environmentalism; the impact of the 2004 presidential election; the emergence of "the next environmentalism."

Forcing the Spring, Revised Edition considers environmentalism as a contemporary movement focused on "where we live, work, and play," touching on such hot-button topics as globalization, food, immigration, and sprawl. The book also describes the need for a "next environmentalism" that can address current challenges, and considers the barriers and opportunities associated with this new, more expansive approach.

Forcing the Spring, Revised Edition is an important contribution for students and faculty in a wide variety of fields including history, sociology, political science, environmental studies, environmental history, and social movements. It also offers useful context and analysis for anyone concerned with environmental issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781559638326
Publisher:	Island Press
Publication date:	06/20/2005
Edition description:	Revised, Revised
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Robert Gottlieb is the Henry R. Luce Professor of Urban Environmental Studies and Director of the Urban Environmental Policy Institute. He is the author and co-author of ten books, including: The Next Los Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City with UEPI faculty and staff Mark Vallianatos, Regina Freer and Peter Dreier (UC Press forthcoming 2004); Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (Island Press, 1993); and Environmentalism Unbound: Exploring New Pathways for Change (MIT Press, 2001). He is also the editor of the MIT Press series, "Urban and Industrial Environments." Professor Gottlieb was the 1996 University of California Distinguished Wellness Lecturer and has received the award on two occasions for supervising the most outstanding student project from the American Institute for Collegiate Planners.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Revised Edition
Introduction to the Revised Edition: The Next Environmentalism
Introduction: Where We Live, Work, and Play
 
PART I. Complex Movements, Diverse Roots: Revisionist Histories, Revised Edition
Chapter 1. Resources and Recreation: The Limits of the Traditional Debate
Chapter 2. Urban and Industrial Roots: Seeking to Reform the System
Chapter 3. The Sixties Rebellion:" The Search for a New Politics 121
 
PART II. The Contemporary Movements: Have the Movements Changed? Revised Edition
Chapter 4. Professionalization and Institutionalization: The Mainstream Groups
Chapter 5. Grassroots and Direct Action: Alternative Movements
 
PART III. Issues of Gender, Ethnicity, and Class: A White Male Upper-Class Movement? Revised Edition
Chapter 6. Gender and Place: Women and Environmentalism
Chapter 7. Ethnicity as a Factor: The Quest for Environmental Justice
Chapter 8. A Question of Class: The Workplace Experience
 
Conclusion: Environmentalism Redefined
Epilogue: From the Ground Up: Environmentalism in the George W. Bush Era—A Postscript
Afterword: A Note on Method
Notes
About the Author
Index

Editorial Reviews

"...[a] provocative and original account..."

The New York Review of Books

Recently, the environmental movement has been seen as elitist--traditionally dominated by white males with its primary goal being the preservation of wilderness rather than the promoting of responsible stewardship of the planet and its resources. Gottlieb ( Empires in the Sun ) expands the definition of environmentalism to include more sociological issues that affect daily life in the community and the workplace. He discusses gender, ethnicity and class as factors in environmental problems, examines alternative movements and grassroots action, such as the protests about Love Canal. Gottlieb introduces Alice Hamilton, pioneer in occupational and community health, as an equal of John Muir. Moving from arguments about protecting the natural environment to a discussion of social justice, he notes that many diverse groups share a common goal in their search for a response to the dominant urban and industrial order. A timely and provocative study. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This book will considerably expand most readers' knowledge of environmentalism as experienced in the past and present in the United States. Gottlieb, a teacher in UCLA's Urban Planning Program and author of several other books on the environment, offers a broad interpretation, beginning with a history of the environmental movement in this country from the 1890s forward, then examining contemporary environmental groups of the past 20 years. Mainstream groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, and Sierra Club are discussed, as are Greenpeace and various grass-roots organizations that are often considered alternative movements. Finally, individual chapters are devoted to gender, ethnicity, and class as they relate to environmentalism. This heavily documented but quite readable work is a good choice for academic libraries and for public libraries with collections on the environment.-- William H. Wiese, Iowa State Univ. Libs., Ames

Library Journal

Placing the American environmental movement within the larger context of American social history, Gottlieb challenges the conventional focus on the conservation organizations that grew out of Gifford Pinchot's and John Muir's activities, to offer a broader interpretation that takes into account the wide range of 20th-century social movements that developed in response to the urban and industrial forces of the past hundred years. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"Forcing the Spring … is an important work, providing for general readers as well as specialists the background to an emergent way of thinking that goes beyond activism to define values that have quietly begun to affect politics and society at all levels."

Christian Science Monitor

"Gottlieb's provocative and original account revises the conventional story of environmentalists trying to preserve the land."

New York Review of Books