While daunting in its scope, this book can serve as a resource for an educator who needs to broaden her understanding of the roots of Western ideas of wilderness. Oelschlaeger's extensive annotated endnotes can steer the inquisitive teacher toward further resources to incorporate into
curriculum planning. The inclusion of tables in most chapters forms a fine summary of each stage of his examination. While organized chronologically, Oelschlaeger spends most of his narrative examining the Modern and Post-Modern conceptions of wilderness and the response of humans to the demands of interacting with nature. The brief inclusion of the time frame of Paleolithic to Greek rationalism makes this book not as helpful to a teacher of the ancient world. However, he does a fine job of providing a balanced (if brief) examination of the shift away
from nature myths and religions with the rise of Judeo-Christian monotheism. The blending of Greek rationalism melded with Hebrew and early Christian thought is clearly shown. Earth becomes a transitory home for humans, with humankind seen as separate from and superior to the natural world. With the rise of modernism, Oelschlaeger sees the split between humans and
nature becoming a wider chasm. The biological world understood by the rationalism of the Scientific Revolution becomes a machine of atoms in motion. Coupled with this is the capitalistic view of nature, and therefore wilderness as only a reserve for increasing market values. Wilderness has become a commodity for enriching the purse not the spirit of humans. The focus of his work centers on this gulf and the response of some seminal thinkers, poets and philosophers who strive to remake Western ideas of wilderness.

Chris Yeager
St. Francis High School
Louisville, Kentucky