Readers who are familiar with environmental writing will recognize the homage to Aldo Leopold in the subtitle (envisioning a new land ethic). Surprisingly, the landscape that produced what must be among Leopold's most pessimistic essays (Illinois Bus Ride [Sand County Almanac]) also produced this author and inspired him to a hopeful vision concerning the evolution of our relationship to the land we live on. Freyfogle argues for stengthening the relationships between communities and their environment. He presents a philisophical defence to radical individualism and unrestrained free-market capatalism that would have us few the the environment as just so many natural resources to be exploited. A legal expert in property law, Freyfogle walks us through history, precedents, and implications with remarkalble clarity. Read this book for its hopefulness - and you will learn something in the bargain.

To Whom It May Concern:

This is NOT a review, but a correction to the Kirkus Review article. Sand County Almanac was published in 1949, a year after Leopold's untimely death (he was helping a neighbor fight a fire). Kirkus has the book's pub date as 1968 -- which might have been a reissue. 1999 is the 50th anniversary of SCA, which is a rather big deal in Leopold circles. Kirkus is on the money with everything else :)