Taking Back Eden - by Oliver A Houck (Paperback)

About the Book

"Taking Back Eden" is a set of case studies of environmental lawsuits brought in eight countries around the world, including the U.S, beginning in the 1960s. The book conveys what is in fact a revolution in the field of law: ordinary citizens (and lawyers) using their standing "as citizens" in challenging corporate practices and government policies to change not just the way the environment is defended but the way that the public interest is recognized in law. Oliver Houck, a well-known environmental attorney, professor of law, and extraordinary storyteller, vividly depicts the places protected, as well as the litigants who pursued the cases, their strategies, and the judges and other government officials who ruled on them.

This book will appeal to upperclass undergraduates, graduate students, and to all citizens interested in protecting the environment.

Book Synopsis

Taking Back Eden is the gripping tale of an idea--that ordinary people have the right to go to court to defend their environment--told through the stories of lawsuits brought in eight countries around the world. Starting in the United States in the l960's, this idea is now traveling the planet, with impacts not just on imperiled environments but on systems of justice and democracy. It has brought people back into the question of governing the quality of their lives. Author Oliver Houck describes the sites under contention in their place and time, the people who rose up, their lawyers, strategies, obstacles, setbacks and victories.

Written for general readers, students, and lawyers alike, Taking Back Eden tells the stories of a lone fisherman intent on protecting the Hudson River, a Philippine lawyer boarding illegal logging ships from the air, the Cree Indian Nation battling for its hunting grounds, and a civil rights attorney who set out to save the Taj Mahal. The cases turn on Shinto and Hindu religions, dictatorships in Greece and Chile, regime changes in Russia, and on a remarkable set of judges who saw a crisis and stepped up to meet it in similar ways. Spontaneously, without communication among each other, their protagonists created a new brand of law and hope for a more sustainable world.

Review Quotes

"A great read, and a highly instructive one. No one but Professor Houck could tell so well this story of environmental litigation's path across the globe. Individually, these turning points in environmental history are fascinating and inspiring; collectively, they reveal patterns of great significance."---James Gustave Speth, Professor and former Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

"Oliver Houck is a most unusual law professor: he writes with wit and even humor but also great brilliance and compassion. Read him and learn."---Mark Hertsgaard, author of Earth Odyssey: Around the World In Search of Our Environmental Future

"Oliver Houck, lawyer, teacher and writer, is graced with poetic imagination, a love of history, and a knack for winning environmental lawsuits. These inspirational stories show us how ordinary citizens and their lawyers can change the world."---Bruce Babbitt, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior

"This book could only have been written by environmental law's greatest story teller--a synthesis of opportunity, courage, slapdash enthusiasm--a relentless pursuit of good law by well motivated people."---William H. Rodgers, Jr., Stimson Bullitt Professor of Environmental Law, University of Washington

"Who would have guessed that one of the most fascinating books of the year would be a discussion of environmental lawsuits from around the world? Oliver Houck uses this scaffolding to offer a stimulating flood of insights about cultures as diverse as Russia, Japan, and India, explaining how a handful of landmark cases have fundamentally changed the way the nations operate. As a bonus, Taking Back Eden is gracefully written, and it's stocked with some of the most interesting characters you will find in non-fiction."---Denis Hayes, Bullitt Foundation President, National Coordinator of the first Earth Day

"Taking Back Eden is a must read for any who want to best understand the world of law and nature."-- "Midwest Book Review"

"Interesting and well-written book."-- "Foreign Affairs"

"This modest volume poignantly reminds the reader that environmental policy change is achieved not merely by amassing scientific evidence or lobbying for new laws, but by protest that eventually finds its way into courts of law...very useful and readable volume... recommended."-- "CHOICE"

"Worthwhile read."-- "Mother Nature Network"

About the Author

Oliver Houck is professor of law at Tulane University, where he has received several teaching awards. In 2005, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Environmental Section of the American Bar Association. He is author of a book on the Clean Water Act, editor of Environmental Law Stories, and wrote the foreword to Biodiversity and the Law.