Let the mountains talk, let the rivers run

by David Ross Brower

As a climber, David Brower scaled many previously "insurmountable" mountains. As a conservationist, Brower has brought a mountaineer's determination and reverence for nature to his efforts to protect the Earth and educate its human inhabitants. He has kept dams out of the Grand Canyon and loggers out of Olympic National Park, established the National Wilderness Preservation System, added seven new regions to the National Park System, and helped to foster a mind-set that questions careless growth. In Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run, the "archdruid" of modern environmentalism, the man The New York Times designated the most effective conservation activist in the world, offers a tough, witty, and impassioned game plan "for those who would save the Earth." Now eighty-two years old, Brower also recounts the highs and lows of his controversial career, sparing no politician or public figure, least of all himself. He frankly discusses his mistakes, such as compromising on the constru