{"product_id":"the-abstract-wild-9780816516995","title":"The Abstract Wild","description":"\u003cb\u003eIf anything is endangered in America\u003c\/b\u003e it is our experience of wild nature--gross contact. There is knowledge only the wild can give us, knowledge specific to it, knowledge specific to the experience of it. These are its gifts to us. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e How wild is wilderness and how wild are our experiences in it, asks Jack Turner in the pages of \u003ci\u003eThe Abstract Wild\u003c\/i\u003e. His answer: not very wild. National parks and even so-called wilderness areas fall far short of offering the primal, mystic connection possible in wild places. And this is so, Turner avows, because any managed land, never mind what it's called, ceases to be wild. Moreover, what little wildness we have left is fast being destroyed by the very systems designed to preserve it. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Natural resource managers, conservation biologists, environmental economists, park rangers, zoo directors, and environmental activists: Turner's new book takes aim at these and all others who labor in the name of preservation. He argues for a new conservation ethic that focuses less on preserving things and more on preserving process and \"leaving things be.\" He takes off after zoos and wilderness tourism with a vengeance, and he cautions us to resist language that calls a tree \"a resource\" and wilderness \"a management unit.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Eloquent and fast-paced, \u003ci\u003eThe Abstract Wild\u003c\/i\u003e takes a long view to ask whether ecosystem management isn't \"a bit of a sham\" and the control of grizzlies and wolves \"at best a travesty.\" Next, the author might bring his readers up-close for a look at pelicans, mountain lions, or Shamu the whale. From whatever angle, Turner stirs into his arguments the words of dozens of other American writers including Thoreau, Hemingway, Faulkner, and environmentalist Doug Peacock. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e We hunger for a kind of experience deep enough to change our selves, our form of life, writes Turner. Readers who take his words to heart will find, if not their selves, their perspectives on the natural world recast in ways that are hard to ignore and harder to forget.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Arizona Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/1996\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780816516995\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 160\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.36h x 5.61w x 0.51d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/26\/1996 pg. 91\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/1996 pg. 1311\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/20\/2007 pg. 73\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Jack Turner","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42935539531957,"sku":"9780816516995","price":18.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_45a64c95-3e00-41c9-9728-849b0765e624.jpg?v=1688488954","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-abstract-wild-9780816516995","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}