Contested Terrain: A New History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks Book

I could be biased by my interest in the subject matter, but I found this to be an excellent, informative read.

The author takes a very anthropological approach to the subject matter (something lacking in the majority of non-fiction, and even in histories, something that should be based in facts and not opinions). Terrie identifies his own position on the subject and biases in the foreword, and then proceeds to present his thesis in an extremely impartial manner, giving the opinions of the various groups involved without making judgements on who is 'right'.

The titular thesis, that the Adirondack History is one of 'Contested Terrain' is an excellent one, and innovative at the time of this book's original publication in the late 1990s, for it actually takes into account the lives, cultural and social aspects of the year-round residents, whom let's face it, deserve a say in what happens to their region (although Terrie is careful to never give more weight to their perspective than those of the other groups involved in the narrative of the Adirondack development and history).

Superbly done. There are a few repetitive facts, as sections of the book overlap in content, but the narrative adheres to the thesis in a very concise manner, and presents logical summations with specific evidentiary support.

My only qualm is the use of the school system statistics as evidence of the financial support provided by having taxable state land in the Adirondack townships. Money spent per child is not a good gauge, when one doesn't compensate for the baseline cost of running a school, whether there are 100 children in attendance or a 1000. The same goes for Teacher-student ratios in rural areas. The population is lower. The way the school systems are designed, a certain amount of teachers (buildings, books, supplies) are required, for various ages and grades, no matter the population. Rural areas have no choice but to spend the money on the school, because shipping the kids off to the next school over is a an impossibility due to travel distances. This means that they are spending more money per child, because there is no other option, not just because they have 'all this money' coming in from the state. Thus, this particular data set is not a good one to use to illustrate the benefit of income coming in for the townships from taxing state land (they would undeniably earn more off from privately owned, developed land... not that I support such a thing as allowing rampant development).

Overall, excellent, informative read, that helped someone who grew up in the region to understand the various pressures and factions that led to the development of the Adirondack's current socio-cultural and economic base, and it's undeniably still apt descriptor of 'Contested Terrain.'