&i;`This is psychohistory on an imposing scale - passionate, flashing with insight, outrageous, gutsy. Shepard has given us a bold, original account of modern environmental destructiveness as a failed development of self. He proceeds from the view that, buried under the layers of civilization, there is a natural human pattern of maturing, stunted and deformed but still, it may be, capable of rescue. Historians and psychologists may not agree with everything he says, but they must welcome someone with big ideas and a willingness to challenge and take risks.'&o; Donald Worster, author of &i;Nature's Economy&o; and &i;Dust Bowl.