The University of Wisconsin Press

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Biography / Environment / Politics

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The Man from Clear Lake Earth Day Founder Senator Gaylord Nelson Bill Christofferson “His story is an inspiration.”—Al Gore On Earth Day 1970 twenty million Americans displayed their commitment to a clean environment. It was called the largest demonstration in human history, and it permanently changed the nation’s political agenda. More than one billion people now participate in annual Earth Day activities. The seemingly simple idea—a day set aside to focus on protecting our natural environment—was the brainchild of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. It accomplished, far beyond his expectations, his lifelong goal of putting the environment onto the nation’s and the world’s political agendas. The life of Nelson, a small-town boy who learned his values and progressive political principles at an early age, is woven through the political history of the twentieth century. Nelson’s story intersects at times with Fighting Bob La Follette, Joe McCarthy, and Bill Proxmire in Wisconsin, and with George McGovern, Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Russell Long, Walter Mondale, John F. Kennedy, and others on the national scene. “Gaylord Nelson, the creative author of Earth Day, is the leading figure in American environmentalism. His prophetic opposition to the American war in Vietnam makes him a foreign policy statesman of the highest rank. During long years in the U.S. House and Senate I came to know many good men and women—and a few great ones. Gaylord is one of the great ones, as this brilliant, well researched biography makes clear.”—George McGovern “This beautifully written biography reveals a man of great diligence, who possessed the ability to mobilize citizens, senators and presidents to make a stand for ‘an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all living creatures.’”—E Magazine Bill Christofferson, a former journalist and longtime Wisconsin political consultant, now retired, lives in Milwaukee. For more information regarding publicity and reviews contact our publicity manager, Chris Caldwell, phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu To go to the page for the original cloth edition of this title, click here.

LARGE PRINT PAPERBACK August 2009 LC: 2003020570 E 704 pp.   7 x 10 29 b/w photos ISBN 978-0-299-19646-2 Large print paperback $24.95 t Audiobook: ISBN 978-0-299-19645-5 Spoken-word MP3 $30.95 t Now available in these formats:   e-book ISBN 978-0-299-19643-1 $19.95 t   e-book Sony ISBN 978-0-299-19642-4 $19.95 t   e-book Microsoft ISBN 978-0-299-19641-7 $19.95 t About UWP E-Books Add titles to your shopping cart by clicking on the "Add this book to cart" link above. You can submit your order electronically, paying for it with your credit card. Click here for a further explanation of the shopping cart feature Never ordered from us before? Read this first. • 2004 cloth edition is available, ISBN 978-0-299-19640-0, $30.00 t “Good books any way you want them . . . now.” Each Caravan title will be published in traditional hardcover or original paperback bindings, in three downloadable e-book formats, as an audio book, and in a large print paperback edition.

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