A lengthy but thorough investigation of a long-debated American law.
Attorney and conservationist Baier provides readers with a detailed look at the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
The ESA was a 20-page law when it was first enacted, with an additional 30 pages of regulations set forth by the United States government to protect animal and plant life in imminent danger of extinction. Fifty years later, it has grown immensely; it’s now a 50-page law, connected to thousands of regulations. How the ESA got to this point is a complex story of politics, ecology, and differing opinions about the government’s responsibility to endangered species. The book begins with views on wildlife in the pre-ESA United States: Hunting, for example, was once guided by a “sportsmen’s code of conduct,” but by the late 1800s, “overharvesting” was threatening many species, including birds hunted for their colorful plumage, and bison, whose numbers were greatly thinned by overhunting. It became clear that conservation efforts were necessary, but it took decades for the ESA to come to be, which provides protection for certain species and allows them to be delisted in certain circumstances. This exhaustive book ably captures all the twists and turns in the development and enforcement of the ESA, up to and including the Biden administration. It features numerous citations, photos, and court cases, as well as appendices and an extensive bibliography. A section on migrating animals, for instance, includes information on the “nine distinct elk populations in Yellowstone National Park,” revealing how the wildlife in question are just as complex as the politics that govern their existence. These partisan politics can prove dizzying; much of the Trump administration’s agenda, for instance, seemed to focus on “reversing Obama’s accomplishments.” On the other side of the debate, Chief Justice Warren Burger pointed out that it’s vital to protect diverse species because “they are keys to puzzles which we cannot solve, and may provide answers to questions which we have not yet learned to ask.” Overall, this is a measured look at what the ESA means for the country and effectively shows how it came to its current state.
A lengthy but thorough investigation of a long-debated American law.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9781538112076
Page Count: 864
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
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