For the Health of the Land: Previously Unpublished Essays and Other Writings

This book constitutes a very important piece in order to understand Leopold thought on Land Ethic. Particularly devoted to farmers and their important paper in the promotion of the "health of the land", the articles included in this book introduce practical advices throught and approach that combines philosophy, science, poetry and spiritual values. This book is an imprescindible lecture to all of those who care about nowadays reflection on sustainability and the demanding problems that the "biotic community" continues to present.

Aldo Leopold is the only dead author I know of whose oeuvre keeps getting better. I first encountered Leopold's work in 1970 when I read his "Sand County Almanac". (I remember that I wrote a book report on "Sand County Almanac" in my Junior year of High School.) I loved this book for its beautiful writing, its strong reasoning, and its clear thinking. On the other hand I found the tone too pessimistic: by the end of the essay "Cheat Takes Over", for example, I was in despair that the environmental situation was so bad and there was no apparent way to improve it. Many years later Leopold scholars J. Baird Callicott and Susan Flader collected a number of Leopold's essays -- obscure or unpublished -- in "The River of the Mother of God and Other Essays". This fascinating work shows the development of Leopold's thought over most of his life. I liked it even better than "Sand County Almanac". And now we have also "For the Health of the Land", another collection of out-of-the-way Leopold essays edited by J. Baird Callicott (again) and Eric T. Freyfogle. And I like this collection even better than "The River of the Mother of God". The essays in this collection have the same beautiful writing, strong reasoning, and clear thinking of "Sand County Almanac", but it's basically an optimistic book. Leopold never minimizes difficulties, but this book is full of solutions as well as problems. The core of the book is a set of forty essays intended for farmers who want to live with the land rather than on the land. Each one is short, bright, eloquent, and practical. Each one shows us how to improve our environment, and hence our lives, by a quick small step. Each step is easy, but together they build into substantive and substantial phalanx of conservation protection. An afterword by Stanley Temple (who holds the University of Wisconsin chair that was established for Leopold) talks about the present in light of Leopold's thinking: Which of the many movements launched by Leopold are making progress? Which are losing ground? I need to add a special note on Abigail Rorer's illustrations. Curt Meine's biography of Leopold describes (pages 417, 486, 512) how he searched for an illustrator who would combine scientific accuracy with artistic sensibility. After considerable effort, Leopold found Charles Schwartz to do the illustrations, and everyone agrees that they're excellent. Abigail Rorer's work reaches or exceeds Schwartz's high standard of beauty and accuracy. I was going to list my favorite of the many illustrations, but I find that I can't: there are too many vying for the title of best. Read this book. Ponder its wisdom. But don't just sit and think: go out and follow its advice. Turn your land -- be it a farm, a backyard, or a window flower box -- into an artwork that reflects your personality.

If you liked Sand County Almanac, you will enjoy this volume of essays as well. As far as I can tell, Aldo Leopold's essays fall into two broad categories: those fit for scientific journals or public policy statements, and those that celebrate the philosophical or aesthetic appreciation of nature. This book contains a healthy dose of both types. It is full of rich, lyrical essays on the variety and inherent enjoyment of being surrounded by wildland and wildlife. This is not to say the essays are impractical. As was often the case, these words were written for the common man; the common landowner. But Aldo Leopold was a brilliant wordsmith. He didn't see why a lesson in practical land management couldn't also be poetic. As such, his words were often profound and prophetic, but also gleaned from what should be common sense. The final essay in this book (The Land-Health Concept and Conservation)is perhaps the most important and most relevant argument for land sustainability that you will ever read.

To Whom It May Concern: This is NOT a review, but a correction to the Kirkus Review article. Sand County Almanac was published in 1949, a year after Leopold's untimely death (he was helping a neighbor fight a fire). Kirkus has the book's pub date as 1968 -- which might have been a reissue. 1999 is the 50th anniversary of SCA, which is a rather big deal in Leopold circles. Kirkus is on the money with everything else :)