Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Conservation Movement, 1890-1920

2014 Reprint of 1959 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The relevance and importance of Samuel P. Hay’s book, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency, has only increased over time. Written over a half a century ago, it offers an invaluable history of the conservation movement’s origins, and provides an excellent context for understanding contemporary environmental problems and possible solutions. Against a background of rivers, forests, ranges, and public lands, this book defines two conflicting political processes: the demand for an integrated, controlled development guided by an elite group of scientists and technicians and the demand for a looser system allowing grassroots impulses to have a voice through elected government representatives.