At a time when human numbers and technological power pose major threats to life on this planet, the need to live with restraint and respect for other life forms and natural ecosystems is increasingly recognized. This bibliography documents the evolution of wilderness consciousness in the United States from a period when the wilderness was simply a resource to be managed and exploited to the more recent development of an environmental ethic, together with scientific concerns for the preservation of essential ecosystems and levels of biodiversity.
The definition of wilderness in the Wilderness Act of 1964 has been modified in this work to take account of both earlier attitudes and the scientific developments and philosophical issues that have surfaced in the past two and a half decades. The bibliography covers more than 300 contributions to the wilderness debate, many of which are not treated elsewhere. Lengthy annotations serve as a review of the literature as a whole and provide information on writers, content, themes, and important passages for each entry. The compiler has included such diverse literary materials as poetry, fiction, and nature writing as well as history and philosophy, scientific research, and works advocating particular wilderness uses and policies. Offering easy access to a rich and varied literature, this bibliography will be an important reference for activists, educators, researchers, and policymakers.