Wilderness and the American Spirit

"The American spirit has always been rooted in expansion and abundance, but this has come at a great cost to the environment. In this book, geologist Ruby McConnell uses the Applegate Trail--the lesser known southern alternative to the Oregon Trail--to tell the story of the American West and our changing attitudes towards wilderness. She explores map-making, land use policies, utopian communities, and resource-based economies, connecting the dots to show how we got to where we are today."--Back cover.

Ruby McConnell is a writer, geologist, and environmental activist whose award-winning work has been featured in Ms. Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and Mother Earth News. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed outdoor series A Woman's Guide to the Wild and A Girl's Guide to the Wild and its companion activity book for young adventurers, and Ground Truth: A Geological Survey of a Life, which was a finalist for the 2020 Oregon Book Awards. She lives and writes in the heart of Oregon country. You can almost always find her in the woods - and online