This book, which is based upon video-taped interviews of retired agency scientists, land managers, non-government scientists, and conservationists, presents a wealth of valuable historical information through the stories of 27 people who have been resisting abusive livestock grazing management practices on public lands. Four of the people interviewed in the book are currently associated with WWP (Ralph Maughan, Julian Hatch, Larry Walker, and Todd Shuman).

The range of issues, regions, concerns, and historical periods addressed in the book is immense. From Martha Hahn, we hear about the battles to transform BLM grazing management in Idaho in the 1990s. From Douglas Barber, Leon Fager, and Renee Galeano-Popp, we receive blow-by-blow accounts of reform and counter-reform within the Apache-Sitgreaves and Lincoln National Forests while Mike Sauber lays out the campaign to stop the construction of massive stock tanks in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness of the Gila National Forest. Julian Hatch and Patrick Diehl lay out the political economy of livestock grazing in the Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument while also reminding us of the chilling consequences rural grazing reform activists face when challenging the status quo. Ralph Maughan then presents us with a most concise, informative overview of issues and facts concerning bison and wolf "control" in the Northern Rockies.

When we get a hankering for some hard-core science, we can turn to Clait Braun for the lowdown on the history and science behind efforts to protect the Gunnison sage grouse, as well as for a detailed critique of a western states conservation assessment of "Greater Sage-grouse and Sagebrush Habitats" that needed "holes . . . to be shot in it." Different interviews address livestock-related issues concerning Hart Mountain NAR, the grasslands of the Black Hills, Malheur NWR, pygmy rabbit habitat in Washington, the Golden Trout Wilderness, among many others.

Hudak gently "prodded" his subjects to recount the events, conflicts, and perceptions that prompted them to address livestock-on-public-land issues in the first place. Buy it and start "mining" it for the unusual history and accumulated wisdom that it contains.

Western Turf Wars can be purchased over the Internet at http://westernturfwars.com or by contacting Mike Hudak directly at Biome Books, 38 Oliver Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1516. You can also call 607.330.0351.