It was going to be Disneyland at the top of a mountain. A vacation destination where guests could ski, go ice skating, or be entertained by a Disney Imagineer-created band of Audio-Animatronic bears. In the summer, visitors could fish, camp, hike, or take a scenic chairlift ride to the top of a mountain. It was the Mineral King resort in Southern California, and it was Walt Disney''s final passion project. But there was one major obstacle to Walt's dream: the growing environmentalist movement of the 1960s. This is the story behind Kathryn Mayer and Greg Glasgow's new title, Disneyland on the Mountain: Walt, the Environmentalists, and the Ski Resort That Never Was.
The authors will be at the Sam Gary Branch on Saturday, November 18, at 3:30 pm, and will share with attendees the research behind the book. This is environmental history at its very best. The battle to save the sequoia groves in the High Sierras from a sprawling Disney resort ended as a victory for the conservation movement in the 1970s. The legal activist and Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, as portrayed in these pages, would’ve made John Muir proud. The Bookies will be on site for book sales and signings.
For a broader look at how environmentalism and the sports, tourism and other industries intersect, consider some of these other titles from our collection!
Shaped by Snow: Defending the Future of Winter by Ayja Bounous - Environmental science, environmental and geographic history of the western U.S., the sport of skiing, economic dependency on a single industry, and a workforce of immigrants are all thoughtfully addressed, and sources used are listed at the end for especially curious readers.
Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship That Saved Yosemite by Dean King - The partnership between naturalist and conservationist John Muir in California and Robert Underwood Johnson, an East Coast man of letters, would result in nothing less than the creation of Yosemite National Park, the founding of the Sierra Club, and mutual concerted efforts to protect essential natural resources through sustained political and civic activism.
Vanishing Sands: Losing Beaches to Mining by Orrin H. Pilkey, Norma J. Longo, William J. Neal, Nelson G. Rangel-Buitrago, Keith C. Pilkey, and Hannah L. Hayes. - This is an informative, detailed, extensively documented scholarly examination of sand mining and its associated issues that will appeal to geologists, environmentalists, and those concerned about climate change
This Contested Land: the Storied Past and Uncertain Future of America's National Monuments by McKenzie Long - From hazardous climate change realities to volatile tensions between economic development and environmental conservation, practical and philosophical issues arise as Long seeks the complicated and often overlooked-or suppressed-stories of these incomparable places.
The Last Winter: the Scientists, Adventurers, Journeymen, and Mavericks Trying to Save the World by Porter Fox - Fox has written an important, much-needed book about the climate crisis that injects a personal element into an abstract-seeming problem.
