John H. Adams co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) at almost the same time the EPA came into existence in 1970. They were a group of young lawyers whose mission was to sue the government to ensure the new environment laws were being enforced. Over the next 45 years NRDC became one of the most effective and instrumental environmental groups.

This is a history of the many NRDC battles and accomplishments - clean water, clean air, global warming, mercury pollution, "bio gems" -- but also American environmental history of the past 40 years. Adams is writing for a mixed audience: the general reader, the NRDC supporter and NRDC employees past or present. As such there is name dropping and shout outs that seem unnecessary. Nevertheless Adams is an eternal optimist, a good writer and the stories almost all have happy endings -- and if not, he puts a positive spin on it to fight another day. NRDC has been criticized for making deals with the enemy, but after reading this it becomes clear that bargaining and deal making is effective. Even if you don't get everything you want today it moves the process forward. It was also clear how bad the Republicans have been on the environment, stunning really. After finishing this I became convinced that the courts are the most effective way to protect the environment. ( )

The best book to date on a remarkable environmental organization by the founder