Grand Canyon to Hearst Ranch: One Woman's Fight to Save Land in the American West - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Elizabeth Austin is uniquely qualified to tell Harriet’s story. She has had unrestricted access to the files of Harriet’s organization, the American Land Conservancy (ALC). She enjoys the friendship and assistance of Harriet’s eldest daughter who spent many years working for her mother at ALC. She has had the full cooperation of Harriet’s family.

Elizabeth already knew or was able to meet many of Harriet’s friends and business associates including Martin Litton, Bruce Babbitt, and Steve Hearst. Her husband, Russell Austin, was Harriet’s longtime advisor as well as ALC’s attorney. Like Harriet, Elizabeth has traveled through the Grand Canyon in a dory on the Colorado River.

Elizabeth Austin is an experienced librarian and historian with master’s degrees in both fields and one book, To Be the Change You Wish to See (2d ed., Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley Public Policy Press, 2017), already published. For more information, visit www.elizabethaustinauthor.com.

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[Reading line]

An exhilarating trip through the Grand Canyon sets the stage for a serious and scholarly look at a conservation fight by an unlikely heroine.

[Review blurbs tk]

Aus dem Klappentext

[Front flap copy] Harriet Hunt Burgess was a passionate visionary who worked tirelessly to preserve outdoor sanctuaries that everyone can enjoy for generations to come. As a wife and mother of five in the 1950s, Harriet was involved in her church, the League of Women Voters, the garden club, and other community activities. But she longed to do more. Sparked by a life-changing adventure in the Grand Canyon, Harriet dedicated her life to saving land and ultimately became a nationally recognized conservationist. For four decades, Harriet persevered in the face of daunting obstacles and took extraordinary risks to conserve hundreds of thousands of acres of land in the American West. Without Harriet, places like the Lake Tahoe region and the California coast would not be the same today. Although she went beyond the roles of a traditional wife and mother, her achievements as a conservationist were always linked with her commitment to her family and future generations. As she once explained, "The land we save is our legacy. It's what we give to our children." Grand Canyon to Hearst Ranch is not only the story of Harriet's struggle to save land, it is also the story of the author's effort to understand Harriet and tell her personal story. Austin went beyond documents and interviews by taking her own life-changing dory trip through the Grand Canyon. That exhilarating experience is interwoven with the author's account of Harriet's early life and five of her most significant conservation achievements as founder-president of the American Land Conservancy. [Back flap copy w/ photo] Elizabeth Austin is a historian and former librarian with master's degrees in both fields. She knew Harriet and knew or was able to meet Harriet's family and many of her friends and business associates. She also had unrestricted access to the files of Harriet's organization, the American Land Conservancy. Elizabeth and her husband, Russell, live in Sacramento, California. This is her second book.