The cover of "Wild by Design"

Wild by Design

Laura Martin, PhD ’15

An environmental historian on the faculty at Williams College, Martin devotes this release from Harvard University Press to a seemingly paradoxical pursuit: ecological restoration, the attempt to design natural spaces in order to repair the damage done by humans. She explores the history, science, and philosophy of this billion-dollar field—in which governments, nonprofits, companies, and others build wetlands, remove invasive species, reintroduce native ones, and more. As bestselling author Elizabeth Kolbert (The Sixth Extinction) says in a blurb: “Can we repair the ecological damage that we’ve done? As Laura Martin observes, no question today could be more pressing, or more uncertain. Wild by Design is a fascinating book—far-reaching, deeply researched, and probing.”

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