"As Mr. Udall's vivid narrative makes clear, the race between education and erosion, between wisdom and waste, has not run its course. . . . The nation's battle to preserve the common estate is far from won."-President John F. Kennedy, from the introduction. In his best-selling 1963 book, The Quiet Crisis, Stewart Udall warned of the dangers of pollution and threats to America's natural resources, calling for a nationwide "land conscience" to conserve...

"Perhaps no other public official or secretary of the interior has ever had as much success in environmental protection, natural resource conservation, and outdoor recreation opportunity creation as Stewart Udall. A progressive Mormon raised in rural Arizona, Udall served in the presidential cabinets of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson from 1961-1969. During these eight years, he established dozens of new national park units and national...