2 3 0 W e s t e r n A m e r ic a n L it e r a t u r e S u m m e r 2 0 0 4 The Environmental Justice Reader: Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy. Eds. Joni Adamson, Mei Mei Evans, and Rachel Stein. Tucson: U n iversity o f A rizona Press, 2002. 395 pages, $22.95. Reviewed by Jennifer A. Peeples U tah State University, Logan The EnvironmentalJustice Reader: Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy is a collec tion of articles, interviews, and testimonies, organized into the three categories indicated in the title that bring together a broad range of what environmental justice means to the diverse group of people interested in its study and appli cation. The selections illustrate the complexities associated with transporting a grassroots movement into the academy. For example, Robert Figueroa cau tions, “The study of environmental justice should not stray from its roots and status as a social movement,” while Julie Sze argues that environmental justice must be broadened in ways “that are currently viewed with raised eyebrow by movement activists” (311, 166). Appropriate methodologies, how to theorize environmental justice, the importance of case studies, the role of the academic professional within the movement, and how environmental justice should be brought into the classroom are all met with more questions by the end of the collection. Commendably, the editors do not shy away from problematic issues. Instead, the collection represents this place and time, when the answers provided for these questions are still controversial. In response to the environmental justice motto “We speak for ourselves,” the editors begin the book with activists’ testimonies and interviews; however, missing from this section is the voice of the ordinary environmental justice advocate. The particular style of personal disclosure, the inclusion of the “housewife” turned activist, the sights, smells, tastes, and other physical reali ties of living in a contaminated community that are so prevalent within the rhetoric of environmental justice, are unfortunately not well represented in the “Politics” section of the book. The collection’s strongest section is the second one, “Poetics.” T. V. Reed initiates this discussion with an introduction to environmental justice ecocriticism , followed by a justification for its inclusion into the ecocritical genre. “Poetics” includes valuable examples of the type of scholarship called for by Reed. The essays chosen by the editors build on one another, provoking thought both within and across the selections. The editors appear to be aware of this strength and give the “Poetics” section twice the pages as either “Politics” or “Pedagogy.” The majority of locations examined in this section fall within the western United States, making it of special interest to Western American Literature readers. The collection’s last section, “Pedagogy,” provides course descriptions, reading suggestions, and recommendations that are helpful for those of us teaching environmental justice to undergraduates, but it does not contribute much new information for readers not currently instructing in this area. B o o k R e v ie w s 2 3 1 The editors’ choice not to give a broad introduction to the environmental justice movement (its historical roots, major achievements, interenvironmental conflicts, demographics, and so on) leaves too many gaps for the uninitiated to understand the significance of some of the content, so it might not work as a stand-alone text in an undergraduate class. But it is a very good choice for those who have been following environmental justice already, are interested in seeing how it changes from a movement to a course of study, and are willing to con template their own activism, research, and pedagogy in the process. The Truth of Ecology: Nature, Culture, and Literature in America. By Dana Phillips. N ew York: O xford U n iversity Press, 2003. 320 pages, $24-95. Reviewed by Christopher Schaberg U niversity of C alifornia, D avis Dana Phillips’s text The Truth of Ecology calls on its readers to radically modify the function of “nature” as it is rendered in the equally complex notions of “literature” and “experience.” The book “attempts to rediscover, to complicate, and hence to redefine ecocriticism, where despite the relative newness of the field, or...