In The Ecocentrists, Keith Makoto Woodhouse skillfully deploys historical methods to trace the origins and development of the ecocentric approach to environmental activism, with a focus on the organization Earth First! (EF!). Throughout, Woodhouse pays particular attention to the philosophical origins of ecocentrism, how it generates tensions within the environmental movement between those who prefer different tactics, and how it is (re)interpreted at different times and in different contexts. The book is beautifully written, nuanced in its treatment of the environmental movement, and illuminating in its discussion of lesser-known aspects of US environmental history, with important lessons for contemporary environmentalism.
The first chapter of the book begins with the story of the Sierra Club, highlighting how early conservationists’ commitments to wilderness access and recreational use framed the political movement that later became environmentalism. The second chapter covers the emergence of “crisis environmentalism” in the 1960s and 1970s, with its...