Jacoby Questions

What are the main primary sources for this book?  How does Jacoby recover the thinking and actions of historical subjects who left few written records?

What was the "degradation discourse" originated by George Perkins Marsh?  How did it shape events in the Adirondacks, Yellowstone, and Grand Canyon?

How did local rural people use the land and its resources in rural New York, Wyoming, and Arizona before state and federal conservation legislation?

To what extent were local people in the three areas Jacoby examines already practicing some type of conservation prior to outside intervention?  Was this effective?

What prompted advocacy of new ideas and approaches for resource conservation?  Who did this?  Why did they do this?  How did they enforce new regulations?

How did the conservation of local people differ from the type of imposed by law?  What explains these differences?

What tactics and methods did local people use to resist new conservation policy?  Was this "environmental banditry" successful in modifying or stopping the enforcement of regulations?

How do the three case studies differ?  What distinguishes one from another?  How do those differences add complexity to the book?

How does Jacoby challenge a history of conversation as narrative of progress and enlightenment?  Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation?