The Country in the City

This book could have been so good. The subject matter, the chapter headings (“The Upper West Side” for peninsula open space efforts), the photo insets pointed toward a very important, fascinating book on the social history of Bay Area open space and environmental movements. However, in the end, it read like yet another bland environmental history book, with a few exceptions. It's too bad, because it's clear that Watkins could have written something much more interesting. The final chapters on inner city environmental justice campaigns and their relationship with the more genteel green movements were more interesting, though.