Saving the Wild Country

The gripping story of the trailblazing conservationists who shaped the wilderness of the American West into legend

Driven by richly drawn characters and framed by cinematic showdowns in epic landscapes, Saving the Wild Country vividly combines narrative history, biography, cultural criticism, and outdoor writing to show how postwar wildland advocacy—and the Western myth—shaped American attitudes toward wilderness in a time of ferocious development and change.

In the boom years following World War II, a small but vital group of artists, writers, and advocates mobilized the visual and therapeutic power of the wilderness to combat the dizzying development of the American West.

With cinematic flair, Ben A. Minteer explores the motives and achievements of photographer Ansel Adams, conservationist David Brower, curator and writer Nancy Newhall, and authors Wallace Stegner and Edward Abbey, an ensemble united by a fierce commitment to preserving the American wildlands. Through a burst of creative projects, they struggled to control the narrative of development in the American West and offered an alternative vision to the culturally corrosive impacts of mid-twentieth-century industrialism and consumerism. But as the five visionaries fought the dams, bulldozers, and highways that slashed across the wild country, they also fought among themselves—and with their internal doubts and regrets—in a land where personality, myth, and activism collided.

In this volume, illustrated with compelling photographs, portraits, and iconic landscapes, Minteer

• investigates the intertwined truths and myths of the West that still permeate American culture
• provides nuance to the backgrounds and motivations of Adams, Stegner, Brower, Newhall, and Abbey
• sheds light on the perpetual battle against the negative cultural impacts of industrialism and consumerism
• engages with several influential western films, including The Searchers, Ride the High Country, Lonely Are the Brave, The Wild Bunch, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

This long-overdue assessment by one of the top thinkers in environmental history and ethics shows why these postwar defenders of wilderness remain relevant for readers today.