Why read Driven Wild?

Book cover of Driven Wild: How the Fight against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement

Book description

In its infancy, the movement to protect wilderness areas in the United States was motivated less by perceived threats from industrial and agricultural activities than by concern over the impacts of automobile owners seeking recreational opportunities in wild areas. Countless commercial and government purveyors vigorously promoted the mystique of travel…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Driven Wild as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Greg Gordon

Author

This really reshaped my thinking about Wilderness. I’d always thought that the main idea of Wilderness was to preserve a pristine environment, but Paul Sutter shows that the origins of the Wilderness movement were focused on getting away from cars—that the wilderness movement was more about providing a place to escape from modernity than preserving the ecosystem.

From Greg's list on The best books on environmental history and who speaks for the trees.