Government and Environmental Politics:

Comparing today's political scene with the governmental legacy of the Progressive era and the New Deal, the authors explore the social values and political trends that gave rise to the environmental movement. Chapters describe such topics as postwar environmental politics, the environmental lobbies, development of the publicly owned national park and recreation system, Federal protection of endangered species, official promotion of nuclear energy, and regulation of toxic substances. I have not seen another book that attempts to focus on so many different aspects of environmental policy in this very contemporary historical period... An original, interpretive perspective. -- Walter A. Rosenbaum, University of Florida

Editor of "Religion and Twentieth-Century American Intellectual Life" and "The Truman Presidency", Lacey details the emergence of the new social values that gave rise to the environmental movement and examines the Federal government's response to the changing ideas and needs of the American people.