Landscapes of Conflict: The Oregon Story, 1940-2000 / Edition 1

by William G. Robbins, William Cronon

Overview

Post-World War II Oregon was a place of optimism and growth, a spectacular natural region from ocean to high desert that seemingly provided opportunity in abundance. With the passing of time, however, Oregon’s citizens — rural and urban — would find themselves entangled in issues that they had little experience in resolving. The same trees that provided income to timber corporations, small mill owners, loggers, and many small towns in Oregon, also provided a dramatic landscape and a home to creatures at risk. The rivers whose harnessing created power for industries that helped sustain Oregon’s growth — and were dumping grounds for municipal and industrial wastes — also provided passageways to spawning grounds for fish, domestic water sources, and recreational space for everyday Oregonians.

The story of Oregon’s accommodation to these divergent interests is a divisive story between those interested in economic growth and perceived stability and citizens concerned with exercising good stewardship towards the state’s natural resources and preserving the state’s livability. In his second volume of Oregon’s environmental history, William Robbins addresses efforts by individuals and groups within and outside the state to resolve these conflicts. Among the people who have had roles in this process, journalists and politicians Richard Neuberger and Tom McCall left substantial legacies and demonstrated the ambiguities inherent in the issues they confronted.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295984421
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	10/01/2004
Series:	Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

William G. Robbins is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of History, Oregon State University. He is the author of Landscapes of Promise: The Oregon Story, 1800-1940, and Hard Times in Paradise: Coos Bay, Oregon, 1850-1986.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Still Searching for Eden at the End of the Oregon Trail by William Cronon

Preface

Prologue: A Time to Remember

I. Postwar Promise

1. The Great Hope for the New Order

2. Into the Brave New World

II. Making Agriculture Modern

3. Bringing Perfection to the Fields

4. The Wonder World of Pesticides

III. Industrial Forestry Management

5. Planning and Technical Efficiency in the Forests

6. Intensive Forestry and Citizen Activism

IV. Of Rivers and Land

7. Richard Neuberger's Conservation Politics

8. Tom McCall and the Struggle for the Willamette

9. Ecologies of Sprawl: The Land-Use Nexus

Epilogue: The Special Place

Notes

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

William Cronon

"Landscapes of Conflict is the second volume of what is unquestionably the finest environmental history anyone has yet written for a single state—-and since Oregon has helped lead the nation in its response to environmental problems, while also exemplifying those problems within its own boundaries, Robbins's book will be of interest to readers far beyond the Pacific Northwest."

Craig Lesley

"Landscapes of Conflict offers a comprehensive study of the complex political and environmental policies affecting Northwest water, forest and agricultural policies from 1941 to the present . Robbins' in—depth analyses are sound, his insights keen, his research impeccable."

Editorial Reviews

"This is, make no mistake about it, an important book. Oregon faces massive land-use and environmental issues, and this history of how we really got to where we are is relevant and predictive. Those who control how Oregon will go in the future need to read this book thoroughly.And that includes the people who have the most power..the voters."—Salem Statesman Journal

"There is much to admire in [this] book: careful scholarship, brisk writing, and an obvious love and respect for Oregon's history and people. And many fascinating stories..Historians and environmentalists will be elaborating his themes, working from the borders of his achievement, for some time to come."—The Oregonian

"[Landscapes of Conflict] is impressive, a work valuable for its sweep, relevant to many current concerns, and important for the understanding it can provide even to those with interests focused on areas far distant from Oregon."—The Journal of American History

"Robbins brings a critical and moral clarity to his research and analysis that turns the specifics of one state's environmental conflicts into a synecdoche for broader struggles with modernity, capitalism, and ecological sustainability. He also adds significantly to a growing body of broad-minded, theoretically-informed scholarship about the Pacific Northwest, a region whose historiography has in the past tended toward either the provincially myopic or the gushingly exceptionalist. Robbins makes the case, in other words, that Oregon matters."—H-NET BOOK REVIEW (Published by [e-mail] (June 2005)

From the Publisher

"[Landscapes of Conflict] is impressive, a work valuable for its sweep, relevant to many current concerns, and important for the understanding it can provide even to those with interests focused on areas far distant from Oregon."

The Journal of American History

"Robbins brings a critical and moral clarity to his research and analysis that turns the specifics of one state's environmental conflicts into a synecdoche for broader struggles with modernity, capitalism, and ecological sustainability. He also adds significantly to a growing body of broad-minded, theoretically-informed scholarship about the Pacific Northwest, a region whose historiography has in the past tended toward either the provincially myopic or the gushingly exceptionalist. Robbins makes the case, in other words, that Oregon matters."

H-NET BOOK REVIEW (Published by [e-mail] (June 2005)