Synopses & Reviews
In an innovative blend of environmental and labor history, Workers and the Wild examines the changing terms on which battles over the proper use of nature were fought in the early twentieth century. Focusing on Oregon in the 1910s and 1920s, Lawrence M. Lipin traces labor's shift in thinking about natural resources. They began with the 'producerist' idea that resources and land, both rural and urban, should be put to productive use, and that those who do are most entitled to access to them. They later shifted to a ‘consumerist' view under which resources should be available for public and recreational use.
While labor was initially resistant to the elitism of protected nature preserves, working-class views changed as automobiles became more affordable, and gained increased access to national parks, forests, and beaches. They subsequently accepted the preservation of nature for recreation, and even began to pressure state agencies to provide more outdoor opportunities. While fish and game commissioners responded with ever more intensive hatchery operations, wildlife advocates began a push for designated "wilderness" areas. In these and other ways, the labor movement's shifting relationship to nature reveals the complicated development of wildlife policy and its own battles with consumerism.
Review
"Lawrence Lipin has written an engaging, brief account of workers' changing relationships with nature in Oregon during the early decades of the 1900s. . . . Lipin has successfully integrated the stories of working-class and environmental politics in a way that revels that neither can be fully understood without the other."--Labor History
Review
"[An] excellent book, imaginative. . . . Readers . . . will be richly rewarded by this stimulating work."--Oregon Historical Quarterly
Synopsis
Focusing on Oregon in the 1910s and 1920s, Lawrence M. Lipin traces the shift in labor's thinking about the use of natural resources. As he shows, workers began with the so-called producerist idea that resources and land, whether rural or urban, should be put to productive use rather than set aside as "elitist" nature preserves. But working class views changed as the automobile gave people access to national parks, forests, and beaches. Workers not only accepted the preservation of nature for recreation, they pressured state agencies to provide more outdoor opportunities. Fish and game commissioners responded with more intensive hatchery operations while wildlife advocates pushed for designated wilderness. In these and other ways, the labor movement's shifting relationship to nature reveals the complicated development of wildlife policy and its own battles with consumerism.
An innovative blend of environmental and labor history, Workers and the Wild examines the battles over the proper use of nature in the early twentieth century.
Synopsis
Exploring the tight ties between wilderness use and class
About the Author
Lawrence M. Lipin is a professor of history at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.