Pagan Polemic

Jack Loeffler is an aural historian, environmentalist, writer, radio producer, and sound-collage artist. He is the author or editor of many books, including Headed into the Wind: A Memoir, Thinking Like a Watershed: Voices from the West, Survival Along the Continental Divide: An Anthology of Interviews, and Adventures with Ed: A Portrait of Abbey (all from UNM Press).

• Prologue. Rambling Reflections of the Reservoir of Memory1. Our Window: An Editorial--19722. The Practice of Aural History3. Native Windows into the Natural World4. Aldo Leopold in the Southwest5. Averting Dystopia6. LUCA's Dream7. Conflicting Ideologies8. Counterculture in the Land of Clear Light9. In Praise of Restoration Ecology10. Nature Abhors a Maximum11. A Sonoran Illumination12. Thinking Like a Watershed13. The Colorado River Compact Is 100 Years Old14. On Direct Action15. A Case for Naturist Anarchism16. Naturizing Consciousness17. Seeking Coherence18. Lingering SpeculationsConclusion. Invigorating MetamorphosisAcknowledgments

No one listens to the Southwest like Jack Loeffler. This collection of essays constitutes a perfect guide to the life's work of an unsurpassed student of the Arid Lands. Here in one volume is a virtually complete account of the history of water and environmental issues in the American Southwest. Jack Loeffler is always arguing in favor of the great work of wild nature and the consciousness of serious nature scientists and scholars. He wrote a series of books, gave talks and lectures, climbed mountains and ran rivers, and knew everybody. Here is a lot of the story of those years--and we are lucky to have it."—Gary Snyder, author of The Practice of the Wild: Essays