Crisis of the Wasteful Nation ─ Empire and Conservation in Theodore Roosevelt's America

Ian Tyrrell’s eye-opening book is both a cohesive picture of Teddy Roosevelt’s engagements with the natural world but, far more important, a compelling portrait of how Americans used and worried about natural resources in a time of burgeoning empire. Industrial commodities such as wood, water, and oil?as well as ?nature” itself?were for the first time seen as central to the country’s economic health, spiritual integrity, and international might. Contrary to traditional narratives, Tyrrell shows that the domestic conservation movement had global significance, as it entailed not merely drawing attention to beautiful vistas; rather, it was key to domestic security and to defining American interests around the world.

Ian Tyrrell was the Scientia Professor of History at the University of New South Wales, Sydney until his retirement in 2012. He is the author of nine books, including True Gardens of the Gods: Californian-Australian Environmental Reform, 1860?1930 and Historians in Public, also published by the University of Chicago Press.