Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2025 -

Hoffman (Vermont Law School) provides a comprehensive review of select laws and policies that have shaped modern Western agriculture. She is particularly interested in highlighting the unintended impacts of these initiatives, especially on Indigenous peoples and agricultural communities of color, drawing on stories from both well-known and lesser-known ranches and farming colonies to illuminate broader systemic issues. Among the legal instruments and policy mechanisms studied are Chief Justice John Marshall's Doctrine of Discovery, the Homestead Act, the Dawes General Allotment Act, the Taylor Grazing Act, wildlife conservation laws (such as the Endangered Species Act and National Wildlife Refuges), and water law. Hoffman concludes by offering a series of recommendations and considerations for future reforms. Accessible despite its legal and policy focus, American Grasslands is well suited for readers who are curious about how Western agriculture has evolved--and continues to evolve--through institutional forces.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

In 12 relatively short chapters, Herring (science communication, Oregon State Univ.) delves into multiple facets of the western forests of Oregon, Washington, and southern British Columbia. These forests, composed primarily of Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, and Big-Leafed Maple, can be characterized as temperate rainforests, and the mature growth forest represents a huge carbon sink. Topics covered include the basic ecology of the ecosystem, the Spotted Owl controversy, the ecology of the tree tops, the flow of water through the ecosystem, human use of the trees, relationships of the ecosystem to climate change, and wildfire. The postscript examines how artists and scientists can find common ground by examining the ecosystem. The book is illustrated with lovely sketches by the author. There is no bibliographic chapter, but the reader can find the author's sources in the books cited section, which is followed by a good index. The book is a great read for not only professionals who have not visited the ecosystem but also anyone interested in forest ecology. A recent book by Stephen F. Arno and Carl E. Fiedler, Douglas Fir: The Story of the West's Most Remarkable Tree (2020), covers the major tree component of this ecosystem.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

Manomin: Caring for Ecosystems and Each Other is, on one level, a book about the plant Manomin, known to biological science as wild rice (Zizania pulastris), primarily among the Anishinaabeg of what is now Canada. On another level, the book is a window onto Anishinaabeg and larger Indigenous ways of knowing themselves, the natural world, and the relationships between them. On yet another level, Manomin is a book about ways of knowing in academia itself. On all these levels, the book is a resounding success. Drawing on a host of contributors, from poets to historians to elders to scholars and more, the title presents a comprehensive way to understand the plant Manomin as a part of human cultural and natural life. Indeed, the starting point of the book is that human cultural and natural life are not separate from the cultural and natural life of the grain, or any other part of the ecological realm. The subtitle of the book hints toward that approach, as it presents the interconnected care ethos present among the Anishinaabeg and many Indigenous people. Anyone interested in Indigeneity, in food, in culture, in exploring ways of knowing through multiple lenses, will find great value in Manomin.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Plastic pollution represents a critical environmental challenge: approximately 200 million tons accumulate in global oceans annually. This comprehensive volume examines plastic pollution across its entire lifecycle, from production through disposal, with particular emphasis on primary plastics and secondary microplastics contributing to marine contamination. The authors provide a thorough inventory of marine plastic sources and their environmental pathways, offering valuable insights into current regulatory frameworks and potential global solutions. The book addresses strategies for combating plastic pollution while exploring innovative alternative materials. The research demonstrates exceptional scientific rigor, supported by extensive bibliographic resources that analyze pollution sources, industrial transformation processes, and the complex fragmentation mechanisms by which plastics degrade in marine environments. The content is well organized and accessibly written, making complex scientific concepts comprehensible without sacrificing technical accuracy. This publication serves as an invaluable resource for readers ranging from undergraduate students to environmental professionals seeking to understand this multifaceted global challenge. The authors' systematic approach to examining the problem's scope and potential solutions makes this an essential reference for anyone engaged with contemporary environmental issues and sustainable materials research.Summing Up: Essential. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

Ramey (Carnegie Mellon Univ.) presents a well-written chronological history of the movement to manage the environmental health of Chesapeake Bay, one of the most important estuaries in North America. Correcting high levels of nutrient pollution constitutes one of the main themes of the book, yet the real story lies in the effort to create a unified front to address many of the environmental challenges facing the six states bordering the Bay, the federal government, academic institutions, private foundations, and many commercial/private interests in this critical issue, which has played out for over a century. Republicans took the early lead in this fight. President Ronald Reagan referred to the issue as "common sense" in his 1984 State of the Union address. A powerful patron in Congress, Senator Charles Mathias (R-MD), successfully lobbied for an EPA study in order to understand the decline in environmental quality in the Bay. These political moves were prompted by natural disasters, especially Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972. Early goals went unmet, and efforts languished until a toxic microorganism caused millions in lost revenue in 1997, reinvigorating the fight to save the Bay. Ramey sheds essential light on this ongoing fight.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

Burke (international relations, Univ. of New South Wales, Australia) and Fishel (international relations, Univ. of the Sunshine Coast, Australia) focus on the Anthropocene and the inherently flawed social contract in which societal institutions are in collusion with, rather than obstacles to, environmental harm. Their goal is to present what an ecologically responsible polity would entail. Currently, political systems represent a "sovereign ban of nature," in which humans use nature's resources but don't view the natural world as a bearer of rights, contributing to humanity's own vulnerability and demise. Guided by ecofeminist philosophy, Indigenous philosophy, and critical race theory, Burke and Fishel propose a polity committed to the flourishing of the human and the "more-than-human" worlds, thereby creating "biospheric ethical" obligations. They challenge misleading ontologies that construct nature as merely "empty space" and passive and inferior to justify exploitive domination. Among their solutions is a "multispecies contract"--not dictated by humans--that involves crossing borders, species, and ecosystems and accepts the "beauty, danger, and responsibilities of interspecies coexistence." Burke and Fishel end with practical advice that includes attending to animals' vocalizations about their subjective conceptions of a good life, models of degrowth, and an Ecoregion Assembly. Their book is a necessary component of any future environmental ethics.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.