Nathan F. Sayre Libros

Exploring the deep-rooted connections between ranching and the American West, this book delves into the enduring allure of rugged individualism that shapes perceptions of vast landscapes. It examines the historical significance of ranching, highlighting its impact on cultural values and the ongoing importance of open lands in the collective consciousness. Through this lens, the narrative reveals how ranching continues to define the identity and spirit of the West.

Steeped in US soil, this first global history of rangeland science looks to the origin of rangeland ecology in the late nineteenth-century American West, exploring the larger political and economic forces that - together with scientific study - produced legacies focused on immediate economic success rather than long-term ecological well-being. Neither scientists nor public agencies could escape the influences of bureaucrats and ranchers who demanded results, and the ideas that became scientific orthodoxy - from fire suppression and predator control to fencing and carrying capacities - contained flaws and blind spots that plague public debates to this day. The Politics of Scale identifies the sources of these conflicts and mistakes and helps us to see a more promising path forward, one in which rangeland science is guided less by capital and the state and more by communities working in collaboration with scientists. -- from back cover.