Northern Landscapes: the struggle for wilderness Alaska.

• Position: BOOKS RECEIVED

Daniel Nelson. 1616 P Street NW, Washington D.C. 20036-1400: RFF Press, 2004. (202) 328-5086. www.rffpress.org. ISBN 1-891853-85-6. 312 pp. $22.95 Paperback.

Northern Landscapes is an essential guide to Alaska's recent past and to contemporary local and national debates over the future of public lands and resources. It is the first comprehensive examination of the campaign to preserve wild Alaska through the creation of a vast system of parks and wildlife refuges. Drawing on archival sources and interviews, Daniel Nelson traces disputes over resources alongside the politics of the Alaska statehood movement. He provides in-depth coverage of the growth of Alaskan environmental organizations, their partnerships with national groups, and their participation in political campaigns into the 1970s and after.

Northern Landscapes focuses on efforts to persuade public officials to recognize the value of Alaska's mountains, forests, and...