The Environmental Justice: William O. Douglas and American Conservation. By Adam M. Sowards. (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2009. x, 198 pp. Paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-0-87071-567-9.)

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

In this short text, the University of Idaho historian Adam M. Sowards does not attempt a comprehensive biography of America's longest-serving Supreme Court justice. Readers seeking an in-depth analysis of William O. Douglas's well-known activist judicial philosophy or his defense of a constitutional right to privacy should look elsewhere. Sowards certainly provides an overview of Douglas's colorful and controversial career and the “legal realism” that explained his strong advocacy of civil liberties, but his purpose is otherwise. Douglas, Sowards argues convincingly, was one of the founders of modern American environmentalism—a “public intellectual” whose unique position as a western outdoorsman among Washington insiders and as a contentious activist among the staid and established political elite, made him a “singular individual for the movement” (p. 4). It was not only his legal opinions but also a combination of his prolific writings and public protests—most notably over preservation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal—that made him a man before his time. Douglas, Sowards argues, gave prestige to the fledgling environmental movement at a time when symbolism was critical. The “environmental justice” both reflected the environmental movement and was instrumental in its development.