Track My Order
Help Centre
1300 187 187
Likes
My Wish ListsLogin / Join
Booktopia
Australia's local bookstore
Revolutionary Parks : Conservation, Social Justice, and Mexico's National Parks, 1910-1940 - Emily Wakild

Revolutionary Parks

Conservation, Social Justice, and Mexico's National Parks, 1910-1940

By: Emily Wakild

Paperback | 1 September 2011

At a Glance

Paperback

$102.90

or 4 interest-free payments of $25.73 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

Winner of the Alfred B. Thomas Award (Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies)

Revolutionary Parks tells the surprising story of how forty national parks were created in Mexico during the latter stages of the first social revolution of the twentieth century. By 1940 Mexico had more national parks than any other country. Together they protected more than two million acres of land in fourteen states. Even more remarkable, Lázaro Cárdenas, president of Mexico in the 1930s, began to promote concepts akin to sustainable development and ecotourism.

Conventional wisdom indicates that tropical and post-colonial countries, especially in the early twentieth century, have seldom had the ability or the ambition to protect nature on a national scale. It is also unusual for any country to make conservation a political priority in the middle of major reforms after a revolution. What emerges in Emily Wakild’s deft inquiry is the story of a nature protection program that takes into account the history, society, and culture of the times. Wakild employs case studies of four parks to show how the revolutionary momentum coalesced to create early environmentalism in Mexico.

According to Wakild, Mexico’s national parks were the outgrowth of revolutionary affinities for both rational science and social justice. Yet, rather than reserves set aside solely for ecology or politics, rural people continued to inhabit these landscapes and use them for a range of activities, from growing crops to producing charcoal. Sympathy for rural people tempered the radicalism of scientific conservationists. This fine balance between recognizing the morally valuable, if not always economically profitable, work of rural people and designing a revolutionary state that respected ecological limits proved to be a radical episode of government foresight.
Industry Reviews
"Wakild's thought-provoking work does well in capturing the achievements and limits of 'revolutionary' national parks and provides compelling reading for anyone interested in simultaneously protecting nature and people."--European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

"This book shines a light on another aspect of the Mexican Revolution--that of state-embraced conservation in tandem with land reform. It shows how environmental, social and cultural history can be integrated into a study of conservation."--Lane Simonian, author of Defending the Land of the Jaguar: A History of Conservation in Mexico

"This is an original, well-researched, and important piece of scholarship. Wakild has managed to address a wide range of themes within a narrow--and thus nicely detailed and rich--scope."--Raymond Craib, author of Cartographic Mexico: A History of State Fixations and Fugitive Landscapes

You Can Find This Book In

Non-FictionTravel & HolidaysTravel GuidesHotel & Holiday Accommodation GuidesCaravan & Camp-Site GuidesPolitics & GovernmentCentral GovernmentCentral Government PoliciesEarth Sciences, Geography, Environment, PlanningThe EnvironmentConservation of The EnvironmentLaw
Jurisprudence & General IssuesJurisprudence & Philosophy of LawEnvironmental ManagementHistoryRegional & National HistoryHistory of the Americas

More in History of the Americas

Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow

Alexander Hamilton

Paperback

RRP $27.99

$23.75

15%
OFF
Lincoln and the Jews : A History, With a New Preface - Jonathan D. Sarna

Lincoln and the Jews

A History, With a New Preface

Paperback

RRP $67.99

$59.90

12%
OFF
The Way of Florida : A Novel - Russell Persson

The Way of Florida

A Novel

Paperback

$41.43

When America Stopped Being Great : A history of the present - Nick Bryant

When America Stopped Being Great

A history of the present

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$28.50

19%
OFF
Gettysburg : The Tide Turns: An Oral History - Bruce Chadwick

Gettysburg

The Tide Turns: An Oral History

Hardcover

RRP $55.00

$42.25

23%
OFF

This product is categorised by