{"product_id":"public-lands-and-political-meaning-ranchers-the-government-and-the-property-between-them-hardcover","title":"Public Lands and Political Meaning: Ranchers, the Government, and the Property Between Them - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eKaren R. Merrill\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe history of the American West is a history of struggles over land, and none has inspired so much passion and misunderstanding as the conflict between ranchers and the federal government over public grazing lands. Drawing upon neglected sources from organized ranchers, this is the first book to provide a historically based explanation for why the relationship between ranchers and the federal government became so embattled long before modern environmentalists became involved in the issue. Reconstructing the increasingly contested interpretations of the meaning of public land administration, \u003ci\u003ePublic Lands and Political Meaning \u003c\/i\u003etraces the history of the political dynamics between ranchers and federal land agencies, giving us a new look at the relations of power that made the modern West.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough a majority of organized ranchers supported government control of the range at the turn of the century, by midcentury these same organizations often used a virulently antifederal discourse that fueled many a political fight in Washington and that still runs deep in American politics today. In analyzing this shift, Merrill shows how profoundly people's ideas about property wove their way into the political language of the debates surrounding public range policy. As she unravels the meaning of this language, Merrill demonstrates that different ideas about property played a crucial role in perpetuating antagonism on both sides of the fence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn addition to illuminating the origins of the \"sagebrush rebellions\" in the American West, this book also persuasively argues that political historians must pay more attention to public land management issues as a way of understanding tensions in American state-building.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn recovering the process by which American ranchers achieved their political coming-of-age, Karen Merrill's \u003ci\u003ePublic Lands and Political Meaning\u003c\/i\u003e breaks new ground. Here the history of ranchlands policy, long oversimplified and even truncated by western and public lands historians, is presented as a complex, nuanced, and interdisciplinary narrative. Merrill forces us to see how inescapable is the reach of the past, as the political choices ranchers and administrators fought over nearly a century ago set the stage for the policy battles that rage today over western grazing rights. Anyone who cares about the fate of our nation's beleaguered public lands should read this book.--Victoria Saker Woeste, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Farmer's Benevolent Trust: Law and Agricultural Cooperation in Industrial America, 1865-1945\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKaren Merrill's \u003ci\u003ePublic Lands and Political Meaning\u003c\/i\u003e provides a new and refreshing perspective on the ongoing struggles for control over the public's vast acreage in the American West. Merrill's pathbreaking and lucid analysis reveals how the entangling of private property with public lands has given to ranchers, government agents, and now environmentalists a set of powerful but ultimately limited tools to reckon their relations to one another and to the land. With this book, the political history of the public domain moves back to the center of American history.--Louis S. Warren, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Hunter's Game: Poachers and Conservationists in Twentieth-Century America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003ePublic Lands and Political Meaning, \u003c\/i\u003e Karen R. Merrill offers a provocative and original analysis of the roots of recent controversies involving ranchers, environmentalists, and government officials in the West. She shows how a seemingly simple question--who owns the public domain?--has generated intense and far-reaching debate throughout the twentieth century. Her account of the contested meaning of the vast federal estate sheds new light on the history of the State. This is an important book.--Adam Rome, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Bulldozer in the Countryside and editor of Environmental History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn recovering the process by which American ranchers achieved their political coming-of-age, Karen Merrill's \u003ci\u003ePublic Lands and Political Meaning\u003c\/i\u003e breaks new ground. Here the history of ranchlands policy, long oversimplified and even truncated by western and public lands historians, is presented as a complex, nuanced, and interdisciplinary narrative. Merrill forces us to see how inescapable is the reach of the past, as the political choices ranchers and administrators fought over nearly a century ago set the stage for the policy battles that rage today over western grazing rights. Anyone who cares about the fate of our nation's beleaguered public lands should read this book.--Victoria Saker Woeste, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Farmer's Benevolent Trust: Law and Agricultural Cooperation in Industrial America, 1865-1945\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Karen Merrill's \u003ci\u003ePublic Lands and Political Meaning\u003c\/i\u003e provides a new and refreshing perspective on the ongoing struggles for control over the public's vast acreage in the American West. Merrill's pathbreaking and lucid analysis reveals how the entangling of private property with public lands has given to ranchers, government agents, and now environmentalists a set of powerful but ultimately limited tools to reckon their relations to one another and to the land. With this book, the political history of the public domain moves back to the center of American history.\"--Louis S. Warren, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Hunter's Game: Poachers and Conservationists in Twentieth-Century America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In \u003ci\u003ePublic Lands and Political Meaning, \u003c\/i\u003e Karen R. Merrill offers a provocative and original analysis of the roots of recent controversies involving ranchers, environmentalists, and government officials in the West. She shows how a seemingly simple question--who owns \"the public domain\"?--has generated intense and far-reaching debate throughout the twentieth century. Her account of the contested meaning of the vast federal estate sheds new light on the history of the State. This is an important book.\"--Adam Rome, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Bulldozer in the Countryside and editor of Environmental History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKaren R. Merrill \u003c\/b\u003eis Assistant Professor of History at Williams College and editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Modern Worlds of Business and Industry: Cultures, Technology, Labor \u003c\/i\u003e(1998).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 296\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.9 x 9.18 x 6.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 15, 2002\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42137489145991,"sku":"9780520228627","price":104.31,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/37ff33ffe98bc9c4494a6a014b2cfac4.webp?v=1732697913","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/public-lands-and-political-meaning-ranchers-the-government-and-the-property-between-them-hardcover","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}