Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)

This extraordinarily knowledgeable history of a highly controversial power struggle between property owners and a hiking group on the Appalachian Trail gives a fair accounting of both viewpoints and does not flinch from examining a possibly unlawful maneuver by the National Park Service to give eminent domain power to a private non-profit group on this thousand-plus miles North-to-South recreation trail in the Eastern United States. While the author is clearly a partisan of the pro-trail faction, she simply accepts the power of the pro-property rights faction in pressuring the Park Service to re-route segments of the trail from the middle of their beautiful and desirable homes and farms to stay within existing roadways, and she never stoops to disparaging remarks or portrayals. Mittlefehldt's source notes are a treasure trove for researchers, a goldmine of information that will remain valuable into the distant future. Well worth the read for anyone interested in the tensions between environmentalists and the people their actions affect. Full disclosure: I'm the editor of a forthcoming book on larger conflicts between citizens and the National Park Service, and Mittlefehldt's gem of a book has done yeoman service in helping me get the facts straight. I'm impressed by her even-handed treatment of what could have easily degenerated into a partisan rant. Remarkable.

I already pretty well knew the history of the Appalachian Trail, but this book fills in the details and backgrounds against which the early volunteers worked to give a much richer picture. I am enjoying it immensely, and so far I'm not at all surprised that it was that hard to convince some communities that this was a good thing.

It was a good read because my cousin walked the Appalachian Trail after returning from Navy duty serving on the USS Cole. He's in the book.

A beautiful & compelling read, environmental history interwoven w the author's walk on the trail.

Good read

This book should be required reading for anybody who loves and/or enjoys the Appalachian Trail. I thru-hiked the trial in 2011, worked at a hiker hostel on the trail in 2012, went to trail days, and continue to do trail maintenance and I learned more about the trail from this book than I ever knew.Mittlefehldt gives the AT context. I know that next time I step foot into the green tunnel that I will look at it differently because of this book. She tells the history of the trail from Mackaye's conception of it to its popular status today and puts trail history into the larger context of american environmental politics.The book is approachable and easy to read, but has a wealth of information. If you have hiked the AT, want to hike the AT, volunteer on the AT, or have ever set foot on the AT before, you should read this book.

This is the smartest, best-written, most objective history of the Appalachian Trail yet written. The author combines her on-trail experience as an AT hiker with thorough, thoughtful, and necessarily selective scholarship to provide a comprehensive account of the history of the AT and the complex issues surrounding its creation, popularity, and maintenance. It is a challenging job to write a history of a resource that spans more than 2000 miles and involves a vast array of organizations and individuals, many of them little known. Sarah Mittlefehldt has produced an excellent and readable book..

This book provides a well written history of the AT. It covers the events leading up to the creation of the AT, and then discusses the steps, obstacles, challenges, benefits, and harms that the AT went through/caused. It is a great book if you find American environmental history and politics interesting. I highly recommend it!