Alternatives Journal – Call for Book Reviewers

SO MANY BOOKS / SO LITTLE TIME
Proposals due October 23, 2007
“Give me books, fruit, French wine and fine weather and a little music out of doors, played by somebody I do not know.” — John Keats
Join Alternatives as we devote an entire special issue to the latest books that are breaking new green ground and shaping environmental thought. We are looking for book reviewers to join us in putting
together the issue’s collection of short and long reviews, which will complement excerpts and related articles.
The list below is not exhaustive, but it includes a selection of books for review that are currently in the Alternatives office. If you have a well-rounded grasp on a book topic, a desire to extract and analyze the
pearls of wisdom for a broad audience, and an engaging pen, then we look forward to receiving your offer to review one, or a pair, of the books below. If you know of a worthy book (published in 2007), video or other
media that is not on the list, and would like to review it or suggest a reviewer, we are also pleased to consider it.
We invite you to send us a short note (100 words maximum) on why you believe the book that you are willing to review is important. Published reviews will range from 100 to 700 words in length. We are primarily
interested in non-fiction works. Please provide us with an example of your writing and a brief (50 words maximum) bio.
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER OF INTEREST TO taarini @ alternativesjournal.ca
by October 23, 2007.

Reviewers will receive the book and a copy of the special issue of
Alternatives.
Alternatives combines the learned rigour of an academic journal with the
breezy style of a magazine. We publish some of the best environmental
writing in the country – writing that is engaging, thought-provoking and
insightful.
Before responding to this call for submissions, please read several back
issues of the magazine so that you understand the nature of our
publication. AJ’s list of books and our book review guidelines follow.
Check our website for more on Alternatives and other calls for
proposals. GUIDELINES FOR BOOK REVIEWERS ARE AT THE END OF THIS EMAIL.
**BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW**
A Contract with the Earth
Author: Newt Gingrich and Terry L. Maple
Publisher: John Hopkins
Year: 2007
Summary: Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, argues for a need
for bipartisan environmentalism – a new era of environmental stewardship
with principles that they believe most Americans will share.
Pages: 207
Agroecology in Action: Extending Alternative Agriculture through Social
Networks
Author: Keith Douglass Warner
Publisher: MIT Press
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Describes innovative ecologically-based techniques as
alternatives to agrochemicals, and shows that agroecology can be put
into action only when networks of farmers, scientists, and other
stakeholders learn together.
Pages: 273
Beyond Mothering Earth
Author: Sherilyn MacGregor
Publisher: UBC Press
Year: 2006
Summary: The author recasts women’s involvement in environmental
activism by developing a theory of feminist ecological citizenship and
offering clear connections between theory and practice.
Pages: 286
Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future
Author: Jeff Goodell
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Examines growing dominance of coal as a solution to energy
independence from oil, emphasizing how deadly and environmentally
destructive the coal mining industry has been and looking to solutions
to moving beyond coal.
Pages: 32
Branching Out, Digging In: Environmental Advocacy and Agenda Setting
Author: Sarah B. Pralle
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Comparison of Clayoquot Sound and a similar conflict in
northern California that occurred around the same time to reveal how the
issues were defined, alliances created and governmental institutions
brought in. Based on this comparison, the author presents a dynamic new
model of conflict management by advocacy groups.
Pages: 279
Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of
Possibility
Author: Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Year: 2007
Summary: Building on their essay, The Death of Environmentalism, which
argued that the politics of acid rain and smog can’t deal with climate
change, the duo articulates a new politics for a new century.
Pages: 344
Building Sustainable Communities: Environmental Justice and Global
Citizenship
Author: J.D. Wulfhorst and Anne K. Haugestad, eds.
Publisher: Rodopi
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Explores a variety of conceptual and practical pathways to the
building of sustainable communities focusing on agriculture, wildlife
valuations, environmental policy, cooperation between labour and
environmentalists, participatory decision making and other cases.
Pages: 236
The Carbon Buster’s Home Energy Handbook: Slowing Climate Change and
Saving Money
Author: Godo Stoyke
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Provides direction for those considering home energy-efficiency
improvements and proves the financial benefit of making such changes.
Pages: 171
The Chickens Fight Back: Pandemic Panics and Deadly Diseases that Jump
from Animals to Humans
Author: David Waltner-Toews
Publisher: Greystone Publishing
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Guides us through pandemics, epidemics and diseases that are
transferable from animals to humans and presents an analysis of ways to
deal with them.
Pages: 246
Child Honoring: How to Turn this World Around
Author: Raffi Cavoukian and Sharna Olfman, eds.
Publisher: Praeger Publishers
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Demonstrates how putting children first will create a peaceful,
ecologically-sound and community-based world.
Pages: 291
Coming to Terms with Nature: Socialist Registry 2007
Author: Leo Panitch and Colin Leys, eds.
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Develops a better understanding of capitalism from an
eco-socialist perspective and advances the kind of politics that could
lead to ecological sustainability as well as democratic socialism.
Pages: 363
Communities, Livelihoods and Natural Resources: Action Research and
Policy Change in Asia
Author: Stephen R. Tyler
Publisher: International Development Research Centre
Year: 2006
Summary: Synthesizes results of a seven-year program of applied research
on community-based approaches to natural resource management in Asia.
Pages: 420
Community Rights and Corporate Responsibility: Canadian Mining and Oil
Companies in Latin America
Author: Liisa North, Timothy David Clark & Viviana Patroni
Publisher: Between the Lines
Year: 2006
Summary: Investigates Canadian involvement and resulting conflicts in
Latin America. The contributors address interconnected questions of
policy and practice, community-corporate relations and the role of civil
society.
Pages: 253
Courage for the Earth
Author: Peter Matthiessen
Publisher: Mariner Books
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Today’s foremost scientists and writers give compelling
evidence that Rachel Carson’s transformative insights are giving a new
generation of activists the inspiration they need to move consumers,
industry and government to action.
Pages: 208
The Culture of Flushing: A Social and Legal History of Flushing
Author: Jamie Benidickson
Publisher: UBC Press
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Benidickson demonstrates that the uncontroversial reputation of
flushing is deceptive with a close examination of Canada, the United
States and United Kingdom.
Pages: 404
Defending the Environment: Civil Society Strategies to Enforce
International Environmental Law
Author: Linda A. Malone and Scott Pasternack
Publisher: Island Press
Year Published: 2006
Summary: This book suggests specific strategies and provides detailed
information for NGOs, community groups and individuals to bring
environmental problems to the attention of international courts.
Pages: 359
Design for Water: Rainwater Harvesting, Stormwater Catchment, and
Alternate Water Reuse
Author: Heather Kinkade-Levario
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Numerous case studies outline the process of water collection
from landscape, residential, commercial, industrial, school, park and
municipal systems. The book also provides the necessary guidelines for
passive water harvesting techniques.
Pages: 235
Developing and Extending Sustainable Agriculture: A New Social Contract
Author: Charles A. Francis, Raymond P. Poincelot and George W. Bird, eds.
Publisher: Haworth Food and Agriculture Products Press
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Explores challenges to developing a twenty-first century system
of sustainable agriculture that is economically sound, environmentally
compatible and socially acceptable.
Pages: 367
Dying for a Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out
Author: Cathy Crowe
Publisher: Between the Lines
Year Published: 2007
Summary: A heart-wrenching and inspiring collection of stories from
homeless activists compiled by a long-time homelessness activist and
“street nurse.”
Pages: 178
Ecoholic: Your Guide to the Most Environmentally Friendly Information,
Products and Services in Canada
Author: Adria Vasil
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Based on her NOW column, the author has compiled a guide to
help those “addicted to the planet” in their consumer choices.
Pages: 343
Endgame: The Problem of Civilization
Author: Derrick Jensen
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Volume 1 of 2, this book weaves together prose and analysis of
the structure of Western culture, leading us to believe that we can
re-imagine our world.
Pages: 493
Finding Community: How to join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community
Author: Diana Leafe Christian
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Year Published: 2007
Summary: A no-nonsense guide to help readers research, visit and
evaluate potential communities including important questions to ask,
signs of a healthy community, costs of joining and staying and common
blunders to avoid.
Pages: 241
Forbidden Forest
Director: Kevin W. Matthews (Max Media Ltd.)
Producers: Kent Martin (National Film Board of Canada) & Lloyd Salomone
(Timber Colony Inc.)
Written by: Kevin W. Matthews and Jonathan Collicott
Year: 2004
Summary: Two New Brunswickers from very different backgrounds come
together to urge Crown land license-holding multinationals to practice
responsible forestry and to encourage the provincial government to adopt
a community-based forestry policy.
Length: 70 minutes
Fuelling Our Future: An Introduction to Sustainable Energy
Author: Robert L. Evans
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Provides a concise overview of current energy demand and supply
patterns and then presents a balanced view of how our reliance on fossil
fuels can be changed over time so that we move to a much more
sustainable energy system in the near future.
Pages: 180
Gaia’s Revenge: Climate Change and Humanity’s Loss
Author: P.H. Liotta and Allan W. Shearer
Publisher: Praeger Publishers
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Explores the meaning of climate change while maintaining a
strategic perspective on international, national and human security and
focusing on the social, political and human impacts.
Pages: 194
High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics and Human Health
Author: Elizabeth Grossman
Publisher: Island Press
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Grossman illustrates how we are all affected by high tech trash
– whether we are using the product or are the child in a developing
world who “recycles” such materials by hand. She looks to Europe’s
regulations as a model for the rest of the world to follow.
Pages: 334
The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics
Author: Roger A. Pielke, Jr.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Identifies a range of options for individuals to consider in
positioning themselves in relation to policy and politics using examples
from scientific controversies and analogies from other disciplines.
Pages: 188
Hot Air
Author: Jeffrey Simpson, Mark Jaccard & Nic Rivers
Publisher: McClelland and Stewart
Year: 2007
Summary: Tells readers what is happening, what is not happening and what
should happen if we are to get a handle on climate change in Canada
Pages: 265
How to Re-Imagine the World: A Pocket Guide for Practical Visionaries
Author: Anthony Weston
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Year: 2007
Summary: This book outlines a way to step up to the challenge: the way
of creativity. It describes imaginative tools to find new openings, to
re-invent the world and prepare for both the best and the worst.
Pages: 143
Interwoven Wild
Author: Don Gayton
Publisher: Thistletown Press
Year:2007
Summary: Nationally-known field ecologist Don Gayton brings his wealth
of experience to show us how nature and ecology perform their magic
right in our gardens and home landscapes.
Pages: 168
Is the Sacred for Sale? Tourism and Indigenous Peoples
Author: Alison M. Johnson
Publisher: Earthscan
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Johnson analyses the big questions of tourism, clarifying how
tourism can support biodiversity conservation and offering solutions to
the division between corporate thinking and sacred knowledge.
Pages: 381
Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man
Author: Dale Peterson
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Describes the life of Jane Goodall including how she
revolutionized the study of animal behaviour and her transformation from
scientist to activist.
Pages: 714
The Landscape of Reform: Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in
America
Author: Ben A. Minteer
Publisher: MIT Press
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Minteer focuses on the legacy of four important conservation
thinkers in the first-half of the twentieth century (Liberty Hyde
Bailey, Lewis Mumford, Benton MacKaye and Aldo Leopold) to show the
“third way” in environmentalism that offers a pragmatic approach to the
use versus preservation debate.
Pages: 264
Life, Money and Illusion: Living on Earth as if we want to stay
Author: Mike Nickerson
Publisher: Seven Generations Publishing
Year Published: 2006
Summary: This book examines our current economic system and suggests
solutions to move to a more sustainable system.
Pages: 448
Loyal to the Sky: Notes from an Activist
Author: Marisa Handler
Publisher: Barrett-Koehler Publishers
Year Published: 2007
Summary: An examination of the global justice movement through examples
from South Africa, Israel, India, Nepal, Ecuador, Peru and all over the
United States. The author demystifies confrontational tactics and shows
how everyone of us is an activist.
Pages: 265
Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties
Author: Betsy Hartmann, Banu Subramaniam and Charles Zerner, eds.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Year Published: 2005
Summary: This book addresses how environmental and biological fears are
used to manufacture threats to individual, national and global security.
Pages: 266
Nature Noir: A Park Ranger’s Patrol in the Sierra
Author: Jordan Fisher Smith
Publisher: First Mariner Books
Year Published: 2006
Summary: The experiences of a park ranger in the Sierra Nevada river
canyons reveal the dark side of protecting public lands.
Pages: 216
Natural Visions: The Power of Images in American Environmental Reform
Author: Finis Dunaway
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Year Published: 2005
Summary: Dunaway demonstrates how environmentalism in America has been
intimately connected to different ways of seeing nature. She documents
this reform from the Progressive Era to the first Earth Day in 1970
showing how the camera has influenced environmental concern.
Pages: 246
Nuclear Power is Not the Answer
Author: Helen Caldicott
Publisher: The New Press
Year Published: 2006
Summary: A critical analysis of government’s nuclear power program
propaganda revealing that nuclear is neither green, safe, nor economical.
Pages: 211
The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and
Economic Collapse
Author: Richard Heinberg
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Heinberg describes an Oil Depletion Protocol whereby nations
would voluntarily reduce their oil production and oil imports according
to a consistent, sensible formula.
Pages: 194
Paradigm Wars
Author: Jerry Mander and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
Publisher: Sierra Club Books
Year: 2006
Summary: A best selling author and celebrated indigenous leaders report
on a momentous collision of worldviews that pits the forces of economic
globalization against the Earth’s indigenous peoples.
Pages: 261
Rocks and Hard Places: The Globalization of Mining
Author: Roger Moody
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Demonstrates the heavy toll large-scale mining has on local
communities, challenging the industry’s claim to sustainability.
Pages: 213
The Rough Guide to Climate Change: The Symptoms, The Science, The Solutions
Author: Robert Henson
Publisher: Rough Guide Ltd.
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Lays out the facts of climate change and assesses the options,
both global and personal.
Pages: 341
Sick Building Syndrome and the Problem of Uncertainty: Environmental
Politics, Technoscience and Women Workers
Author: Michelle Murphy
Publisher: Duke University Press
Year Published: 2006
Summary: A detailed history of sick building syndrome explaining how
uncertainty has emerged around it from the viewpoints of feminist
activism, office worker protests, ventilation engineering, toxicology,
popular epidemiology, corporate science and ecology.
Pages: 253
South of North: Images of Canada with drawings by Thoreau MacDonald
Author: Richard Outram
Publisher: The Porcupine’s Quill
Year Published: 2007
Summary: A book of poetry by Richard Outram, a great admirer of the
evocative drawings of Thoreau MacDonald, son of the Group of Seven
member, J.E.H. MacDonald. South of North combines Outran’m quick, vivid
poems with simple and restrained drawings. Both men were deeply grieved
by the despolation of our world.
Pages: 119
Sustainable by Design: Explorations in Theory and Practice
Author: Stuart Walker
Publisher: Earthscan
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Walker explores the design process in the context of
sustainability and challenges conventional ways of defining, designing
and producing functional objects.
Pages: 244
Sustainability or Collapse? An Integrated History and Future of People
on Earth
Author: Robert Costanza, Lisa J. Graumlich and Will Steffen, eds.
Publisher: MIT Press
Year Published: 2007
Summary: An integration of natural history and human history documented
by researchers from a range of disciplines and highlighting such topics
as the political ecology of the Mayans; the effect of climate on the
Roman Empire; twentieth century social, economic and political forces in
environmental change; scenarios for the future; and the accuracy of such
past forecasts as The Limits to Growth.
Pages: 495
Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement
Author: Phil Brown
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Focusing specifically on breast cancer, asthma, and Gulf
War-related health conditions, Brown shows how these concerns have
launched an environmental health movement that has revolutionized
scientific thinking and policy. He argues that organized social
movements are crucial in recognizing and acting to combat environmental
diseases.
Pages: 356
Urban Camping: A Testament to Living Without a Vehicle
Author: Peter and Andrea Tombrowski
Publisher: Peter and Andrea Tombrowski
Year Published: 2005
Summary: By sharing their story of choosing to go car-free in Calgary,
Alberta the authors hope to encourage others to become more physically
active and less vehicle-dependent.
Pages: 161
Urban Meltdown: Cities, Climate Change and Politics as Usual
Author: Clive Doucet
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Points out critical issues in urban growth and climate change
including lack of environmental accountability, political attitudes and
the need for new governance at all levels.
Pages: 251
Water Policy for Sustainable Development
Author: David Lewis Feldman
Publisher: The John Hopkins University Press
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Felman makes the case for adaptive management using numerous
river basin case studies. He assesses the impacts of runoff pollution
and climate change, the environmental justice aspects of water
management and the prospects for sustainable fresh water management.
Pages: 371
________________________________________________________________________
**BOOK REVIEW GUIDELINES**
Alternatives publishes reviews of academic and non-specialist books,
films, music and websites for a primarily Canadian environmental
audience. We print short reviews (100-words) that highlight new and
noteworthy books, as well as longer reviews (600-750 words) that offer a
critical assessment of the book(s) under consideration. Occasionally, we
publish review essays (1000-1200 words) on a collection of recent,
related publications. We rarely review books more than two years old.
SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
Alternatives considers completed reviews, and routinely circulates a
list of books available for review. If you wish to receive these book
review requests, please notify our Assistant Editor at taarini @
alternativesjournal.ca
Reviews will be edited for length, style and clarity.
Reviewers are invited to keep and enjoy the books they review.
CONTENT
Ensure that your review addresses these questions: What is this book
about? Who should read it? What will they learn? Your audience may never
read the book themselves; ensure that you succinctly report its main
arguments and conclusions. Do not provide a chapter-by-chapter
description of its structure, but rather outline the overriding themes
and suggest why the book is useful and/or interesting.
A longer review (600-750 words) should bring a critical eye to the book
and discuss how successfully the book achieves its goals: Is the
argument well taken? Is the information accurate? Are there things
missing? Will this book have an impact on environmental discussion and
practice in Canada or internationally? Should it?
If the book is not likely to have a significant impact, or if it does
not make particularly innovative or interesting arguments, perhaps it is
not worth reviewing. If this is your impression, please contact the
Assistant Editor (taarini @ alternativesjournal.ca) before you complete
your review.
FORMAT
Put the book information at the top of the review, in the following format:
Title, Author, City: Publisher, Year, # pages.
Provide a one-sentence biography at the end of your review, beginning
with your name. (e.g., Jane Smith is associate professor in the Faculty
of Environmental Studies at….)
For office use, please provide your full name, email address and mailing
address as well as the word count of your review.
-30-
—
Coming soon to newsstands: Environmental Education with the 2007 AJ Campus Directory — degrees offered and campus action across the nation
_____________________________
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Production Co-ordinator
Alternatives Journal
Canadian Environmental Ideas and Action
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Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1
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email: mruby@fes.uwaterloo.ca
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