Environmentalists who believe that hunters are interested only in the kill may be surprised to learn that sportsmen were originally in the vanguard of the conservation movement. John Reiger's work has been hailed as an authoritative look at these early conservation efforts; now his landmark book is available in an expanded edition that broadens its historic sweep.

Beginning in the 1870s, sportsmen across America formed hundreds of organizations that not only fostered responsibility for game habitats but also spearheaded the creation of national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges. Reiger tells how these "gentlemen" hunters and anglers, outdoor journals like "Forest and Sream," and organizations such as the Boon and Crockett club lobbied state legislatures and the Congress to regulate the taking of wildlife, and helped to arouse public interest in wilderness preservation.

For this new edition, Reiger has expanded the book beyond its original focus on the period 1870-1901. He has added a new chapter that traces the antecedents of the sportsmen's conservation movement to the years before the Civil War, and has also brought his coverage into the twentieth century by showing how sport hunting and fishing, and conservation, moved beyond class distinctions and eventually became influenced by television. A new Epilogue depicts Aldo Leopold as the hunter-conservationist ideal and shows how the nineteenth-century sportsmen's code continues to be the cornerstone of the sporting ethic.

"American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation" corrects the notion that environmentalism began in the 1960s, celebrating activities of sportsmen that preceded other conservation groups by decades. This new edition continues to be essential reading for all concerned with how earlier Americans regarded the land, demonstrating even to those who oppose hunting that they share with sportsmen and sportswomen an awareness and appreciation of our fragile environment.

About the Author

John F. Reiger is Professor of History at Ohio University-Chillicothe. Between 1983 and 1988, he served as Executive Director of the Connecticut Audubon Society. His other books include "The Passing of the Great West: Selected Papers of George Bird Grinnell" and "'Gifford Pinchot with Rod and Reel'/'Trading Places: From Historian to Environmental Activist': Two Essays in Conservation History."