"...a well-documented survey...of the destructive impact of American mining practice upon the environment, and of the increasing public and political reaction to the devastation that mining produces. In a time when there is more heat than light generated upon the subject, it is a pleasure to note that the author has remained fair and dispassionate."
—Western Historical Quarterly
"This book presents, in rich detail, the first balanced portrait of the clash between the world of the profit-oriented, individualistic mining man and the cosmos of the environmental worshipper... It is an important book, a powerful book, a book of optimism and sanity... coming from one of our most able historians of the American West."
—Gene Gressley, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming