ENGINEERING EDEN The True Story of a Violent Death, a Trail, and the Fight Over Controlling Nature

The 1972 killing of a man by a grizzly in Yellowstone resulted in a lawsuit against the National Park Service. Traber Burns's forceful baritone works well as the author examines the the Park Service's management of the environment through the lens of the legal proceedings. Smith has done his research and has sympathy for the pioneers of environmental management who--by trial and error--shaped Park Service policy. Burns's pronunciation is always clear, and his pacing excellent. And while the stories of the handful of grizzly bear fatalities in our national parks over the last century are a less-than-perfect vehicle for explaining the complex intersection of developing science and landscape management, they do keep us listening. Smith's perspective holds some surprises. F.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2016]