Defending the Wilderness brings together the best of Paul Schaefer's writings on the Adirondacks. It provides a fascinating account of the history of the conservation movement in New York State since the early 1930s as seen through the eyes of one who organized the grass-roots movement that stopped the damming of Adirondack rivers in the biggest, longest, and most costly conservation battle in the United States. They also tell the story of how the now-famous "forever wild" article of the New York State Constitution has enabled the state to lead the nation in conservation efforts for more than a century.
But these pieces do more than chronicle a half-century of conservation work; they also capture the essence of the country itself. In essay after essay, Schaefer describes the beauty of the Adirondacks, its wild rivers andforests, its mountains and wildlife. Illustrated with 64 outstanding black-and-white photographs, Defending the Wilderness collects for the first time in a single volume the writings of one of our greatest conservationists.