Defending Illusions: Federal Protection of Ecosystems.

• Position: Review

DEFENDING ILLUSIONS: FEDERAL PROTECTION OF ECOSYSTEMS

K. Fitzsimmons. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999. (301) 459-3366. 272 pp. $60.00 Clothbound, $22.95 Paperbound.

Defending Illusions: Federal Protection of Ecosystems examines the science, philosophy, and law of ecosystems management and shows how efforts to make federal protection of ecosystems the centerpiece of national environmental policy are driven by religious veneration of Mother Earth wrapped in a veil of weak science. It argues that placing the wellbeing of nature ahead of the well-being of people erodes the American dream...