Tony and the Cows: A True Story from the Range Wars

Former Sierra Club officer Tony Merten, who made his New Mexico ranch a habitat for wildlife, shot himself to death without explanation in 1996 while under suspicion in the criminal investigation of the wanton shooting of 34 cows and calves. Baker, essayist and novelist, wrests from this unsolved case a crackling mystery, a jolting ecoparable and an extended meditation on humanity's relationship to the planet. He uses the case as a springboard to examine the long-running controversy over whether Western ranchers should continue to receive grazing permits on public lands. Baker attempts to steer a middle course between grassroots activists who advocate a sweeping ban on such permits and ranchers who regard long-term leasing of public rangelands as a permanent, indispensable base for their livelihoods and lifestyle. Much of the book is a pointed critique of what Baker calls the radical wing of the environmental movement, which he accuses of dubious thinking, apocalyptic sermonizing and romantic clinging to a fantasy of reborn humanity living in harmony with wild nature. Taking aim broadly at EarthFirst!ers, green activists, deep ecologists, Theodor Roszak, Jeremy Rifkin and others, he draws disturbing (some would say outrageous) parallels between their demonization of technocivilization and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's yearning for close-knit rural tribal community. Baker's recognition that we face an eco-crisis makes his tough-minded, philosophically grounded critique worthwhile; it will challenge environmentally minded readers to rethink and fortify their positions. (May)