THE IDEA OF THE AMERICAN SPIRIT has always been rooted in expansion and abundance, at great cost to the environment. With the world burning up, one can't help but wonder: how did we get here? Wilderness and the American Spirit traces hundreds of years of The United States' relationship to the environment starting from the initial colonization of Native American land to the development of land use policies, and the creation of resource-based economies.
Using a lesser-known alternative to the Oregon Trail-Ruby McConnell uses the Applegate Trail as a vehicle to weave exposition, history, and science to show us how we got to where we are now and what we can do about it.
