This volume is part of the Contemporary World Issues series and is included in the sub‐series Politics, Law and Government. It follows the same format as previous books from this series I have reviewed, and, as before, I can say that it is a very easy reference book to use, and that it can be widely recommended to schools, universities, commercial organizations and government.
The book starts by setting the context for environmental activism. There is an outline of the history since 1900. This is followed by a taxonomy of activist groups including mainstream, species and issue specific, deep ecology and ecofeminism. The various strategies open to activists, including providing information, monitoring politician voting patterns, membership recruitment and ecoterrorism, are then outlined. The next chapter gives eight case histories from the USA. This is followed by brief accounts of environmental activism in various regions of the world. These opening chapters are worth reading for general interest.
The rest of the book consists of reference material. There are accounts of about thirty people and organizations. These are followed by about 15 reports, statements and legal case reports. There is a directory of organizations with full contact details and a brief outline of aims. The last section is a list of resources: books, reference works, journals, videos and electronic databases. The reference chapters contain mainly, but not exclusively, US sources. An example of “think globally, act locally”, which is standard advice for environmental activism. The lists are a rather eclectic, as all such tend to be. Even so, they suggest the sort of organizations and resources that might (or ought) to be available in Europe, if not yet in Africa and South America, and they may suggest resources that one has missed. Many of the resources and lots of the organizations have Web sites and the Web address is given together with the last date accessed (the most recent of these seem to be middle of last year – which is fairly good for a book.). As usual I will remind users outside the USA to check for local editions of printed resources. Another tip: if the Web addresses given do not work try the organization name in a search engine. A London based organization in which I am involved has recently built their own Web site; six‐month old addresses would find only old information.
I am in general impressed with this book and have recommended one of the other books in the sub‐series to a friend, simply on the strength of this volume. I wish there were a similar UK or European published series of similar titles. Until there is, this series, and this volume, will be of considerable value outside the USA. Within the USA it will be of unquestioned value and deserves to sell well to both libraries and individuals.
