"Last Great Wilderness is an authoritative history, documenting the power of wilderness values and the determination of those who fought to preserve a remarkable place._x001D_ Never again in American history will an area as vast and wild as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be protected in a single political action. Roger Kaye tells the story of the most aggressive act of wilderness preservation in America." Last Great Wilderness provides an exploration of the values and meanings of wilderness, describing the wildlife, scientific, recreational, and symbolic values that motivated those who worked for its establishment in the 1950s. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is at the centre of the conflict between America's demand for oil and nature at its most pristine. Three decades before the battle over oil development began, a group of visionary conservationists launched a controversial campaign to preserve a remote corner of Alaska. Their goal was unprecedented - to protect an entire ecosystem for future generations. Among these conservationists were Olaus and Margaret Murie, who became icons of the wilderness movement. Last Great Wilderness chronicles their fight and that of their compatriots, tracing the transformation of this little-known expanse of mountains, forest, and tundra into a symbolic landscape embodying the ideals and aspirations that led to passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964.
