Reviews for Litigating Federalism: The States Before the U.S. Supreme Court, Vol. 88

The average rating for Litigating Federalism: The States Before the U.S. Supreme Court, Vol. 88 based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-03-05 00:00:00 Victor Horowitz On a more personal level, Webb in part follows up on themes in Richard West Sellars' "Nature in the National Parks," which and whom she references here. But, that's in the later part of the book. After a brief childhood bio, she discusses her legwork in getting the NPS's vast National Park and Preserve system establshed in Alaska, and with the preservation rules it has. Foreshadowing some later parts of the book, she also describes her initiation to bureaucratic politicking. She also talks about being one of the first women to have a real position in the NPS, and how that may have played a role in some of her early NPS and interagency interactions. From there, she describes her march up the ranks, with lessons learned along the way, both about general NPS management and organization, and about being a woman marching up the ranks. At this point, her life intertwines with well-known NPS historian Robert Utley, whome she eventually marries. Then, she gets her first superintendency, at LBJ National Historic Park. From there comes a definite jump to the assistant superintendency at Grand Teton. And, having to deal with a major National Park full of employees grinding axes, carrying bucketsful of grievances, and using federal employee grievance processes for either political payback or to milk the system of money. During five years at Grand Teton, she sees the politicization of the NPS increase under the Clinton Admin just as much as under Reagan or Bush I. Al Gore's "Reinventing Government" is described as a disaster for the Service, and then comes Gingrich's government shutdown. And, as part of this, she confirms Sellars' diatribe that the NPS is still recreational tourism first, with wildlife biology trailing sadly behind, although the two disagree on the causes of that. She finishes by observing the start of conservative intransigence over both bison and snowmobiles in Grand Teton and neighboring Yellowstone, coupled with other, NPS-wide abominations such as the push for more commercialization, cell phone towers, etc., much of this on Clinton's watch too. The last three grafs above are the "depressing and infuriating" of my title. Sellars was somewhat depressing on first read, but he didn't cover NPS politicking to any great degree. And, given that the book is a few years old, I wonder if the politicking is even worse today.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-07-29 00:00:00 Stacey Simmons This book had been in my TBR pile for a long time, but a trip to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur, Oklahoma recently made me want to pick it up. In a happy coincidence, Webb recounts her brief stint as interim superintendent of the park as part of her recounting of a long career with the National Park Service. A big part of the.book documents how bureaucracy and politics sometimes stand in the way of what is best for preserving our country's nature and history, but much of the book is inspiring in its appreciation of the treasures we have and the people who band together to preserve them.