Book Review

Canada and the United States

For the past two decades, historians of American environmentalism have recognized the key role that women played in many aspects of the movement. They protected the national parks, fought the spread of billboards, and preserved endangered wildlife. In articles and books, the important contributions of women as both leaders and indispensable foot soldiers for conservation causes have been emerging. Glenda Riley has now brought that research together and done invaluable work exploring manuscript sources on her own. The result is an engaging synthesis of what is known about the varied ways in which women have participated in environmental issues. "Environmentalism would have been far less effective," argues Riley, "had it not been for the thousands of women who supported it"(p. xiii). Riley makes the persuasive case that seeing early twentieth-century conservation activity only in terms of men such as Gifford Pinchot or Theodore Roosevelt distorts the actual development of the movement.

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One obstacle to a better perception of what women have provided to the environmental cause has been the pervasive assumption that what men have done in this area is intrinsically more significant and substantial than anything women might have attempted. The stereotypes of "garden club" ladies or soft-minded feminine interests have governed historical attitudes in the same manner that they have shaped policy making in the public arena. Riley indicates how misleading an impression this is and how little it reflects the real range of interests that women have brought to environmental concerns. As Riley says, "women's interpretation of environmental conservation included far more than the land and its resources" (p. xiii).

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