AMERICA THE RAPED: The Engineering Mentality and the Devastation of a Continent

by Gene Marine ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1968

Though Marine's on-the-Ramparts manner (he is an editor there) will turn off many a potential conservationist, his cause is sound--he indicts the ""Engineers. . . They commit rape with bulldozers,"" favors the ecologists who champion the preservation of the land, the rivers, the trees. Marine attacks variously Con Edison, the redwood ravagers, dam-builders, ""growth"" as a heedless ethic, in a series of hard-hitting polemics that previously appeared in the magazine in ""article form."" He tries to achieve the impact of Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) over a wider range of ecological subjects, and, evidently, he has done considerable legwork to document his charges. Quoted here are biologists and conservationists, statesmen and concerned citizens, and even the enemy. The book has the virtue of a clear stance (as opposed to an occasionally muddy argument), i.e., we are two nations--the cops and the rapists. It's likely Marine is right. Certainly, where air pollution, wildlife decimation, floods, and possibly starvation may be the outcome, it is time to resist the Engineers' rationale of ""we'll do it first and see what happens."" But resist rationally--for some readers will find Marine's swipes almost as virulent as the Engineers' atrocities.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION