The Battle for Yellowstone – Morality and the Sacred Roots of Environmental Conflict: 71 (Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology) - Softcover

Farrell, Justin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691176302 ISBN 13: 9780691176307

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2017

Synopsis

Yellowstone holds a special place in America's heart. As the world's first national park, it is globally recognized as the crown jewel of modern environmental preservation. But the park and its surrounding regions have recently become a lightning rod for environmental conflict, plagued by intense and intractable political struggles among the federal government, National Park Service, environmentalists, industry, local residents, and elected officials. The Battle for Yellowstone asks why it is that, with the flood of expert scientific, economic, and legal efforts to resolve disagreements over Yellowstone, there is no improvement? Why do even seemingly minor issues erupt into impassioned disputes? What can Yellowstone teach us about the worsening environmental conflicts worldwide?

Justin Farrell argues that the battle for Yellowstone has deep moral, cultural, and spiritual roots that until now have been obscured by the supposedly rational and technical nature of the conflict. Tracing in unprecedented detail the moral causes and consequences of large-scale social change in the American West, he describes how a "new-west" social order has emerged that has devalued traditional American beliefs about manifest destiny and rugged individualism, and how morality and spirituality have influenced the most polarizing and techno-centric conflicts in Yellowstone's history.

This groundbreaking book shows how the unprecedented conflict over Yellowstone is not all about science, law, or economic interests, but more surprisingly, is about cultural upheaval and the construction of new moral and spiritual boundaries in the American West.

About this title

About the Author

Justin Farrell is assistant professor of sociology in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University.

From the Back Cover

"Farrell presents an original and compelling view of what constitutes the relevant aspects of a moral framework for understanding environmental conflicts. The scholarship is impressive."--Robert Wuthnow, author of Rough Country: How Texas Became America's Most Powerful Bible-Belt State

"Building his case on one of the most iconic national parks in the world, Farrell shows very convincingly that if we do not take into account the quasi-religious dimension of environmental conflicts, we will not be able to understand persistent clashes over land, resources, and environmental uses."--Louis Guay, Laval University, Canada

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691176302
• ISBN 13: 9780691176307
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320