Not in Our Backyard: The People and Events that Shaped America's Modern Environmental Movement

A history of the environmental movement & preservation in the United States. This book traces the efforts from John Muir, John Audubon and Thoreau to establish the national park system. Then by the 1950's, the Wilderness Society and Sierra Club were starting campaigns to save the Grand Canyon. Then to the passage of the Wilderness Act, which set aside federal land as protected wilderness preserve and in 1962, Rachel Carson published her book Silent Spring. Al Gore as an environmental activist was chosen by Bill Clinton as his running mate.