Acting for Endangered Species: The Statutory Ark.

• Position: Book Review

Shannon Petersen. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2002. (785) 864-4155. 184 pp. $29.95 Softbound.

Acting for Endangered Species: The Statutory Ark presents a political and legal history of the Endangered Species Act, illustrating how and why the statute has become so controversial. Using two major controversies as examples, the Tellico Dam/Snail Darter Supreme Court case and the spotted owl threat to logging in the Northwest, Petersen shows how litigation and judicial decision making have played a large role in the modern environmental movement. In analyzing these cases...