In his review of Jim Stiles’ book
Brave New West, Brian Kevin attempts to defend the
“Lycra-clad masses” and wonders why Stiles
doesn’t address more print to erosion and species loss (HCN,
4/16/07). Stiles does discuss erosion and species loss, but that is
not his focus in this book.
Kevin fails to appreciate the
fact that Stiles is not your run-of-the-mill environmentalist
jumping up and down about the promise of new technological fixes to
solve all our problems. Stiles is an iconoclastic sociologist
making the incontrovertible connection between human
self-absorption and the destruction of both the natural world and
older, slower ways of life. Kevin may dislike
“yesterday’s below-code single-wides,” but at
least somebody other than the wealthy could live in them. I
remember the old Moab, and I liked it the way it was, too. I
shouldn’t have to apologize to anyone for feeling this way
and neither should Jim Stiles. In the tradition of both Ed Abbey
and Mark Twain, Stiles is one of few these days offering the
unvarnished truth.
Kevin writes as if he is himself a
humorless member of the Lycra-clad mass that continues to ignore
the ever-growing horror of industrial tourism. I’ve been
visiting Moab since 1981 and I’ve seen first-hand the changes
and damage that Stiles discusses. Nothing to worry about? Fat
chance, my friends.
Evan Cantor
Boulder, Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline “An iconoclastic sociologist”.
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