05/02/2022
Journalist Schweber (Fly Fishing Yellowstone National Park) delivers a sharp chronicle of the collaboration between conservationist Bernard DeVoto (1897–1955) and his wife and editor, Avis (1904–1989). A prolific writer, Bernard fought to save federal lands during the McCarthy era, publishing an exposé in Harper’s that “exposed and thwarted a secret plot... to force the sell-off of as much as 230 million acres of America’s public lands, including national parks, monuments, forests, and grasslands.” Schweber depicts Bernard’s wife, Avis, as a partner in every way—often among his first readers, she “edited, fact-checked, researched, indexed, answered correspondence, and proofread until her eyes gave out,” (as well, she championed the work of her friend Julia Child, finding her a publisher in 1961 for Mastering the Art of French Cooking). Schweber offers a comprehensive account of the DeVotos’ fight to protect public lands, plus some scathing portrayals of their adversaries, including Nevada senator Patrick McCarran, who withheld appropriations from faltering National Park services and whose “largesse flowed disproportionately to his friends,” and the FBI, who paid visits to the DeVotos’ house due to claims of communism. The result is a fascinating biography, worthy of two remarkable lives. Agent: Farley Chase, Chase Literary. (July)
"An energetic celebration of a man who, largely forgotten today, did more than most to save the national parks in the West." — Wall Street Journal
"This America of Ours is a deeply subversive and patriotic book that inspires a coyote's howl. It is a brilliant rendering of what 'the open space of democracy' must be if we are to survive its present state of erosion. Nate Schweber possesses the ferocity of a journalist and the agility of a storyteller who animates the magnificent and mischievous spirit of Bernard DeVoto, one of the most astute writers of the American West and dogged defenders of public lands. Schweber also brings the forgotten intelligence of Avis DeVoto into her full light as a persuasive champion of wildness. This book reads like a thriller with the twist and turns of history thoroughly charged by two active minds and the community that surrounded them. We learn how sharp-edged politics are transformed through bold literary actions into public policies that protect sacred lands that not only have shaped the diversity of our character, but ignited our imaginations." — Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Hour of Land
"It’s eerie, the way the best reporters, working long years on deep research, end up publishing the exact right book for the moment when it’s most needed. This uplifting, heart-rending biography of two of America’s greatest conservationists and their fortitude in the face of governmental corruption and attacks on our public lands is inspiring. Nate Schweber has written a splendid love story as well as a beautiful book for our burning, struggling times." — Rick Bass, author of For a Little While
"A stirring story of a husband and wife and their passionate devotion to the land—and great food. . . Drawing on abundant archival sources, Schweber argues persuasively that because of the DeVotos’ efforts, millions of acres of public lands were saved from destruction and preserved as national treasures. . . An exuberant celebration of an astounding couple." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Schweber offers a comprehensive account of the DeVotos’ fight to protect public lands, plus some scathing portrayals of their adversaries…The result is a fascinating biography, worthy of two remarkable lives.” — Publishers Weekly
"A timely new biography. . . Schweber’s skillful reporting here equals that of his subject." — Ben Goldfarb, High Country News
"Finally, someone has written the biography that Avis and Bernard DeVoto deserve. Nate Schweber delivers their tale with verve and nuance, effortlessly weaving together the fight over America's vast wilderness heritage with the politics of Cold War Washington, all within the life story of one of the country's most important literary couples." — Clay Risen, author of The Crowded Hour
"Bernard DeVoto was America's great environmentalist before the term was coined. He was a populist, while remaining a great liberal. He gave Americans a lyrical history of the conquest of the west while admitting the moral ambiguity of it. He was an internationalist while never leaving the soil of the United States. This and more is why, in these fraught times for our nation, Nate Schweber's biography is so urgent and necessary." — Robert D. Kaplan, author of An Empire Wilderness and Earning the Rockies
"This America of Ours is an intimate, compelling portrait of one of America’s most consequential literary partnerships. Bernard and Avis DeVoto were magnetic intellectuals who spent their lives defending public lands and constitutional freedoms; Nate Schweber narrates their battles against McCarthyism and Congressional land grabs in vivid and witty prose. Using previously unpublished sources, Schweber illuminates the lives of both Bernard and Avis, and reveals the intensity of their friendships with luminaries like Julia Child and Robert Frost. A must read for anyone interested in the dramatic politics of conservation at America’s midcentury—and anyone who enjoys a strong martini." — Megan Kate Nelson, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America
"Charming and absorbing, This America of Ours is the biography of a marriage between two lavishly talented characters, the witty and profane Avis DeVoto, who would become Julia Child's best friend and editor, and western historian and conservationist Bernard DeVoto. Schweber weaves together their fight to save public lands in the West with a moving account of their literary partnership and enduring love. The result is an exuberant delight, full of the couple's righteous invective against crooked politicians and their devotion to haute cuisine: Don't miss the recipe for the DeVoto Dry Martini." — Caroline Fraser, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
"This America of Ours chronicles the history of one of conservation’s greatest power couples in their life-long battle to save our wild public lands and oppose the destruction and privatization of open spaces. Schweber tells all in sturdy, vivid prose; the pulse of this book beats with a lust for life." — Doug Peacock, author of Grizzly Years and Was It Worth It?
"How could we have missed the swashbuckling story of Avis and Bernard DeVoto, tribunes of public lands, free speech and liberty itself? Thankfully we have it now from Nate Schweber, in telling and rich details that make clear its ties to Joe McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover, and today's demagogue-ridden America." — Larry Tye, New York Times bestselling author of Demagogue
"Nate Schweber’s energetic and commanding account of DeVoto’s impassioned career in defense of national parks and public lands, and his defiance of two of the country’s most shameless bullies, Joseph McCarthy and Pat McCarran, the timeline of the despicable deeds that DeVoto risked his reputation and livelihood to thwart feels an awful lot like NOW. This America of Ours is alarming, gripping, and gratifying. Herein justice is done — to the lives of DeVoto and his equally brave and brilliant wife, Avis, and to the better angels of our democracy." — John Taliaferro, author of Grinnell: America’s Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West
“Nate Schweber’s masterful narrative fulfills the most important agenda for books—shedding new light on a subject we already know and love. I have been reading Bernard Devoto books and essays for my entire life and only now do I understand his enormous contribution to land conservation. This is a vital book about the American experience.” — Rinker Buck, New York Times bestselling author of Life on the Mississippi and The Oregon Trail
"This America of Ours is so many fantastic things all at the same time: the story of a complex marriage, the history of one of our most important historians, and a razor's-edge drama about a critical fight to preserve America's public lands — the wild places that define our nation's soul. And Schweber manages to tell all these stories in a thoroughly gripping narrative, a story whose pages I could not wait to turn." — Michael Punke, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Revenant, Ridgeline, and Last Stand
"Americans have long recognized their debt of gratitude to farsighted individuals who created our system of public lands. Thanks to Nate Schweber's meticulous research and compelling narrative in This America of Ours, we can now take measure of our equal debt to Bernard and Avis DeVoto and others who saved those remarkable lands from destruction. A must-read for anyone who cares about conservation in America." — Peter Stark, author of Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father
"For those who love America & our heroes, this is a must- read. Wonderfully written, gripping, essential." — Ryan Busse, author of Gunfight (via Twitter)
"Bernard DeVoto was America's great environmentalist before the term was coined. He was a populist, while remaining a great liberal. He gave Americans a lyrical history of the conquest of the west while admitting the moral ambiguity of it. He was an internationalist while never leaving the soil of the United States. This and more is why, in these fraught times for our nation, Nate Schweber's biography is so urgent and necessary."
"How could we have missed the swashbuckling story of Avis and Bernard DeVoto, tribunes of public lands, free speech and liberty itself? Thankfully we have it now from Nate Schweber, in telling and rich details that make clear its ties to Joe McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover, and today's demagogue-ridden America."
"This America of Ours is an intimate, compelling portrait of one of America’s most consequential literary partnerships. Bernard and Avis DeVoto were magnetic intellectuals who spent their lives defending public lands and constitutional freedoms; Nate Schweber narrates their battles against McCarthyism and Congressional land grabs in vivid and witty prose. Using previously unpublished sources, Schweber illuminates the lives of both Bernard and Avis, and reveals the intensity of their friendships with luminaries like Julia Child and Robert Frost. A must read for anyone interested in the dramatic politics of conservation at America’s midcentury—and anyone who enjoys a strong martini."
"It’s eerie, the way the best reporters, working long years on deep research, end up publishing the exact right book for the moment when it’s most needed. This uplifting, heart-rending biography of two of America’s greatest conservationists and their fortitude in the face of governmental corruption and attacks on our public lands is inspiring. Nate Schweber has written a splendid love story as well as a beautiful book for our burning, struggling times."
"Finally, someone has written the biography that Avis and Bernard DeVoto deserve. Nate Schweber delivers their tale with verve and nuance, effortlessly weaving together the fight over America's vast wilderness heritage with the politics of Cold War Washington, all within the life story of one of the country's most important literary couples."
Nate Schweber’s masterful narrative fulfills the most important agenda for books—shedding new light on a subject we already know and love. I have been reading Bernard Devoto books and essays for my entire life and only now do I understand his enormous contribution to land conservation. This is a vital book about the American experience.
"Nate Schweber’s energetic and commanding account of DeVoto’s impassioned career in defense of national parks and public lands, and his defiance of two of the country’s most shameless bullies, Joseph McCarthy and Pat McCarran, the timeline of the despicable deeds that DeVoto risked his reputation and livelihood to thwart feels an awful lot like NOW. This America of Ours is alarming, gripping, and gratifying. Herein justice is done — to the lives of DeVoto and his equally brave and brilliant wife, Avis, and to the better angels of our democracy."
"This America of Ours chronicles the history of one of conservation’s greatest power couples in their life-long battle to save our wild public lands and oppose the destruction and privatization of open spaces. Schweber tells all in sturdy, vivid prose; the pulse of this book beats with a lust for life."
"Charming and absorbing, This America of Ours is the biography of a marriage between two lavishly talented characters, the witty and profane Avis DeVoto, who would become Julia Child's best friend and editor, and western historian and conservationist Bernard DeVoto. Schweber weaves together their fight to save public lands in the West with a moving account of their literary partnership and enduring love. The result is an exuberant delight, full of the couple's righteous invective against crooked politicians and their devotion to haute cuisine: Don't miss the recipe for the DeVoto Dry Martini." —
"This America of Ours is so many fantastic things all at the same time: the story of a complex marriage, the history of one of our most important historians, and a razor's-edge drama about a critical fight to preserve America's public lands -- the wild places that define our nation's soul. And Schweber manages to tell all these stories in a thoroughly gripping narrative, a story whose pages I could not wait to turn."
★ 2022-04-20
A stirring story of a husband and wife and their passionate devotion to the land—and great food.
Journalist Schweber makes his book debut with a vigorous dual biography of Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, historian, and crusading conservationist Bernard DeVoto (1897-1955) and his wife, Avis (1904-1989), who was closely involved with his work and, after his death, devoted herself to the rising career of her friend Julia Child. Drawing on abundant archival sources, Schweber argues persuasively that because of the DeVotos’ efforts, millions of acres of public lands were saved from destruction and preserved as national treasures. Bernard started his career teaching English at Northwestern, where, in 1922, he met a captivating student: Helen Avis MacVicar. They married in 1923, after her first year. Soon disillusioned with academia, Bernard quit to become a writer. “To express himself and rise in stature, Bernard DeVoto wrote novels, essays, and criticism,” writes the author. “To make good money, John August wrote ‘tripe’ stories for the big slicks.” Although his novels were mediocre at best, his nonfiction—focused on the West—earned critical acclaim. Offered a monthly column in Harper’s, he turned his attention to the vulnerability of Western land. Growing up in Utah, Bernard saw land “late in the stages of having its vegetative skin grafted off. To boost lumber, beef, and wool production in World War I, logging and grazing regulations were lifted in national forests but then never reinstated in peacetime.” Bernard’s hard-hitting essays against the land grab by greedy ranchers and politicians ignited sparks. Schweber recounts the virulent political climate created by Nevada Sen. Pat McCarran, a strident anti-conservationist, abetted by Joseph McCarthy. Bernard was one of many caught in their crosshairs, and he was blacklisted by two magazines, investigated by the FBI, and feared imprisonment—yet never stopped lecturing and writing about conservation. After Bernard died, Avis worked as a scout for Knopf, to whom she brought Child’s cookbook, a high point in their long, close friendship.
An exuberant celebration of an astounding couple.
Fred Sanders has a warm and pleasing voice. He delivers this underappreciated history of Bernard and Avis DeVoto crisply and thoughtfully. His clear tone and eloquent delivery give this audiobook authority. Author Schweber unearths the story of the courageous journalist/historian who fought for Western lands and freedom of speech. To that he adds the companion biographical history of DeVoto’s talented wife, who championed Julia Child’s books, fiercely edited her husband’s histories, and shared his enthusiasm for fighting the land grab of 200 million acres led by the demagogue and bigoted Senator Leo McCarran of Nevada. When DeVoto spearheaded a coalition to defeat the Echo Park Dam in Colorado, he ran afoul of Senator Joe McCarthy, who attacked him mercilessly. Both DeVotos left an indelible mark on our history. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Fred Sanders has a warm and pleasing voice. He delivers this underappreciated history of Bernard and Avis DeVoto crisply and thoughtfully. His clear tone and eloquent delivery give this audiobook authority. Author Schweber unearths the story of the courageous journalist/historian who fought for Western lands and freedom of speech. To that he adds the companion biographical history of DeVoto’s talented wife, who championed Julia Child’s books, fiercely edited her husband’s histories, and shared his enthusiasm for fighting the land grab of 200 million acres led by the demagogue and bigoted Senator Leo McCarran of Nevada. When DeVoto spearheaded a coalition to defeat the Echo Park Dam in Colorado, he ran afoul of Senator Joe McCarthy, who attacked him mercilessly. Both DeVotos left an indelible mark on our history. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
