[.ca] Encounters with the Archdruid (ISBN 0374148228)

From Amazon.com:
Born in 1915, the mountaineer and outdoorsman David Brower has arguably been the single most influential American environmentalist in the last half of the 20th century; even his erstwhile foes at the Department of the Interior grudgingly credit him with having nearly single-handedly halted the construction of a dam in the heart of the Grand Canyon, and he has converted thousands, even millions, of his compatriots to the preservationist cause through his work with the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and other organizations. Brower was in the thick of battle when John McPhee profiled him for the New Yorker in a piece that would evolve into Encounters with the Archdruid. McPhee follows Brower into unusually close combat as Brower faces down a geologist who is, it seems, convinced that there is no sight quite so elevating as that of a fully operational mine; a developer who (successfully, it turned out) sought to convert an isolated stretch of the Carolina coast into a resort for the moneyed few--and who provided the title for McPhee's book, wryly opining that conservationists are at heart druids who "sacrifice people and worship trees"; and, most formidable of all, former Interior Secretary Floyd Dominy, who oversaw the construction of a structure that for Brower stands as one of the most hated creations of our time, Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. McPhee offers up an engaging portrait of Brower, a man unafraid of a good fight in the service of the earth, making Encounters an important contribution to the history of the modern environmental movement. --Gregory McNamee

a generation passes...:
This was the book that introduced me to John McPhee (I grew up around the corner from Dave Brower)and it made me a lifelong fan of McPhees remarkable insights and abilities as a reporter. Here he takes Brower -probably the leading voice for landscape conservation in the second half of the 20th century- and puts him Up Close and Personal with three very remarkable antagonists: the greatest Dam builder in North America, the developer of Hilton Head, and with a mining engineer who has "an affinity for beds" -but has managed to spend nearly 8 years in total sleeping rough in search of minerals world-wide. What is most intriguing about this book is that one comes away with an appreciation of the complexities surrounding environmental issues. This is no polemic or one-sided rant, rather McPhee shows us the strengths and weaknesses of each of his characters, and by weaving the personal in with the political we are left to make up our own minds just who are the heroes and who the villains. Recently I used this book in an Environmental Lit. class & to my surprise about half of the students had never heard of Brower (hence the title of my review. In spite of this they were all captured by the artful transparency of McPhee's prose -they were on that raft with Dominy & Brower, they went up that mountain, they walked that beach, and most important, they had that conversation. Thirty years after its publication this book still has the zip to draw its reader in. Regardless of your position on Things Environmental, I encourage you to give this a good read.

Review, Encounters with the Archdruid:
Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee was an interesting book. We read it as part of our AP Environmental Science class. Three developers encounter Dave Brower, a conservationist with the Sierra Club. The reading was easy, but at times it was hard to follow because McPhee often jumps around and talks about the scientists' families. It was often repetitive because the developers and the conservationist argue about the same issues all the time. One of the strongest points of the novel is the description of the wilderness. It is very detailed and really gives the reader a sense of actually being there. Overall, the book is unbiased. It offers people the opportunity to explore both sides of environmental issues. It's a good book to read if you're really in the mood to read it, but it's not something most people would pick up and read. -GHHS AP Environmental Students

Great Environmental Opinions:
IN the book, encounters with the archdruid, by John Mcphee there were many different views on environmental issues. Mcphee demonstrates these views through his characters that are conservationists and preservationists. THe novel is divided into three parts, each dealing with a different issue: Mining in a mountain range, development of islands, and the damming of rivers. Within each section, the characters argued, convaying the conservatgionists because, although the arguments were heavy. THe characters had good explanations behind their opinions. THe arguments made you, the reader question your thoughts on the topic. Both the con's and pres. Had good ideas backing their opinions, Therefore it kept the reader into the book. However, the book jumps from topic to topic and was difficult to follow at times. There was also an extensive above of facts about the setting that didn't need to be there. The book would have still had the same effect withouth the added info. Overall, the book was enjoyable and made you think of how you would act if faced with the option to build a damn, resort, or mine.

Encounters with the Archdruid:
In an AP Environmental Science Class, we were assigned to read an environmental book and do a book report. Six of us chose Encounters with the Archdruid. The main consensus was while being a very informative and descriptive book, it was boring. Being 17 and 18 year old seniors in High School, this book was not our forte due to the slow moving nature of it. This book presented 4 viewpoints of people in the enviromental world: the dam builder, hardcore enviromentalist, developer, and the miner. The dialouge between the characters is somewhat interesting, but this book is definatly not a "Joe-Jim" read. For an excellent environmental book I highly suggest Ishmael.

Catalyst for conservation:
In chemistry, a catalyst is used to mix two substances unlikely to join in nature. John McPhee here acts as a catalyst in stimulating reactions between the Archdruid, David Brower, and three of his antagonists. As a catalyst, McPhee deals with each pairing in the most detached way possible. Even so long after its original publication, the attitudes expressed by the mineral engineer, the dam builder and resort developer through McPhee's superb journalism remain with us. He succeeds admirably at that in relating these confrontations, while his writing skills keep you aware of him at all times. Brower, a towering figure in several senses, is portrayed in an almost subdued manner. The strength of his message, however, so appropriate today, is conveyed by McPhee as a muffled riptide. Join McPhee as he struggles over copper-bearing mountains with Brower and geologist Charles Park. Park "would move the White House if there was copper under it." To Park, mineral extraction is mandated by the need of Americans to maintain the lifestyle they've achieved in the 20th Century. Brower argues that lifestyle growth must slow its pace to retain the remaining natural resources. Park counters Brower's desire to protect the wilderness with assertions that "managed mining" will achieve both aims. Park argues that mining need not destroy wilderness and that Glacier Peak's hiking trails will not be lost because copper is removed from its innards. Does this sound familiar? The Archdruid's second encounter is with the rather more flamboyant Charles Fraser. Fraser has a winning track record in development, particularly golf courses. He wants to "open" an island off the Carolina coast. The island, "a third larger than Manhattan, has a population of eleven people." Fraser sees that condition as disproportionate. When Brower disagrees, Fraser dubs him the Archdruid - contending that 'conservationists' are 'preservationists.' "Modern druids worship trees and sacrifice human beings to those trees," Fraser contends. The humans being sacrificed are golfers and others who can afford to visit the offshore island Fraser wants to "develop." Fraser, like Park, understands the need of Americans to return to a remembered uncongested frontier condition, if only temporarily. The western frontier becomes the site of McPhee's concluding essay. In the West, more than anywhere else in North America, water is life's blood. Whether water is better used in a free flowing or captive condition is the subject of Brower's dispute with Floyd E. Dominy, dam builder. McPhee follows the pair over reservoirs, deep into dams, along river courses, in his account of the "water wars." McPhee describes Dominy as "a child of the hundredth meridian," that boundary between wet and dry Mid-America. Dominy spent years capturing water for ranchers and farmers, later adding cities, casinos and boaters to his clientele. Along the Colorado River, deep in the Grand Canyon, McPhee records Brower and Dominy debating the impact of damming western rivers. We have lost David Brower. If there's a finer memorial than McPhee's account, point it out. The issues related here aren't resolved today, giving this book an unexpected endurance. John McPhee has performed an incomparable feat in aligning the attitudes and expressions of the "developer" and the "environmentalist." Clear choices are made apparent, but as McPhee reminds us, neither Brower nor his contenders are the ones who will make the decisions - it is you, the reader.