"Pearson’s determination to revise the public’s understanding of the controversy that surrounded the Grand Canyon during the 1960s certainly offers a useful corrective to various exaggerations and legends that have blossomed during the past half-century. He also offers the reader a thoughtful explication of Stewart Udall’s political difficulties, seeking as he did to accommodate the interests of Arizona’s development while pursuing an increasingly passionate agenda of environmental advocacy as secretary of the interior. Above all, Pearson’s detailed exploration of the crucial role of legislative affairs, incorporating as it does the dynamics of party politics, of bureaucratic ambitions, and of regional development, reminds us that we omit such careful study of institutions at our scholarly peril."
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The Journal of Arizona History
"Nature-loving readers will find value in his [Pearson's] insights both into a specific conservation milestone and into the broader sweep of the environmentalist movement's history."
—Publishers Weekly