Ed Marston replies:
Dear Professor Power,
My
review of your book said I absolutely agreed with you about your
critique of the extractive economy. Here are some relevant
quotes:
“Power has done us a
great service by describing the economic changes transforming the
West …
“It is useful and
important work, delivered with passion and conviction …”
And here’s the next to last
paragraph:
“Power is
absolutely right to take aim at the inflated economic claims
extraction makes and the emotional pleas its proponents make for
the preservation of their “custom and culture” and their “way of
life.” The polemicists of the extractive industry can drive you
nuts with a drumbeat for jobs that invariably involve destroying
the land.”
So we differed not in our distaste
for extraction as presently practiced and in its outsized claims,
but in your glorification of this lousy new economy. I was also
critical of the fact that your book never once, on any page, found
anything positive to say about the land-based industries. As a
result, you had to go to the economists’ report, which I cited as
an example of your influence on others, but did not review, for a
rebuttal.
Ed
Marston
Publisher, High Country
News
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Ed Marston replies.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
