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Loading... The Everglades: River of Grass (original 1947; edition 1997)by Marjory Stoneman Douglas (Author)
Work InformationThe Everglades: River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1947)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I was somewhat disappointed, but I should say right now that this was very-well written and parts – especially in the first chapter – were quite poetic. But I had been hoping for a book about the ecology of the Everglades and the movement to preserve it, and instead of natural history this focused almost exclusively on human history, although several chapters near the end did discuss some of the conservation issues. The book included some vividly gory accounts of people dying in bloody massacres (and they weren’t even quotes from primary sources), and I found them sickening enough that I almost put this on my did-not-finish shelf. A few parts seemed to drag for me as well. However, in fairness I cannot say this was a bad book, only that it was not for me. That said, I did come across several passages I especially enjoyed, and I would have been thrilled if the entire book had gone on in this vein: “The great piles of vapor from the Gulf Stream, amazing cumulus clouds that soar higher than tropic mountains from their even bases four thousand feet above the horizon, stand in ranked and glistening splendor in those summer nights; twenty thousand feet or more they tower tremendous, cool-pearl, frosty heights, blue-shadowed in the blue-blazing days.” (Page 17). “The water is timeless, forever new and eternal. Only the rock, which time shaped and will outlast, records unimaginable ages.” (Page 33). An interesting book, but it wasn't what I thought based on the recommendation. A bit of history, a bit of science, a sprinkling of hope--mostly dashed. It goes to show how far mankind has come...and unfortunately how much, much further we need to go on issues like living with the natural Everglades. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesRivers of America (33)
Nature.
Nonfiction.
HTML: Before 1947, when Marjory Stoneman Douglas named The Everglades a "river of grass," most people considered the area worthless. She brought the world's attention to the need to preserve The Everglades. In the Afterword, Michael Grunwald tells us what has happened to them since then. Grunwald points out that in 1947 the government was in the midst of establishing the Everglades National Park and turning loose the Army Corps of Engineers to control floodsâ??both of which seemed like saviors for the Glades. But neither turned out to be the answer. Working from the research he did for his book, The Swamp, Grunwald offers an account of what went wrong and the many attempts to fix it, beginning with Save Our Everglades, which Douglas declared was "not nearly enough." Grunwald then lays out the intricacies (and inanities) of the more recent and ongoing CERP, the hugely expensive Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)975.939History and Geography North America Southeastern U.S. Florida Peninsular Southeast FloridaLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I'm also pleased to report that, while she does of course use language that's very dated now and certain kinds of descriptions that modern authors would hopefully avoid, her treatment of the native peoples of Florida is way more respectful than I'd have expected for 1947. She very much treats all the people in her narratives as people, whatever their race or culture, and accepts those cultures on their own terms. (Mind, you I can't speak to how accurate her depictions of native cultures are, but she does seem to have at least wanted get it right.) And while she might not exactly be condemning the evils of colonialism on every page, she doesn't remotely whitewash them, either, and is always ready to call an injustice and injustice and a horror a horror. So, y'know, a considerably less racist and sanitized/mythologized account of American history than I got growing up decades later, anyway.
The edition that I have also includes an extensive afterword by journalist Michael Grunwald describing what's happened to the Everglades' environment and the various efforts to both develop and conserve it since the original book was written... which is a lot, good, bad, and ugly. He also talks about Douglas's own involvement in that history, which continued well into a ripe old age.
Anyway, even if this wasn't remotely what I was expecting, I can certainly see why it was influential, and whether or not I always loved her writing, I have come away with considerable respect for Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Less so for humanity and how we treat each other and the natural world, but let's be honest, that was kind of a given.
Rating: I'm giving this a 3.5/5 as a reading experience, but as a piece of history in itself, arguably it should rate higher. ( )