"Douglas Brinkley is the most distinguished student of America's environmental history. His books on Teddy Roosevelt, Alaska, Hurricane Katrina, and now Franklin D. Roosevelt are masterful studies of the country's natural history. His new work on FDR's extraordinary role in preserving the nation's natural wonders is a landmark achievement. It is the fullest, most compelling study of FDR's part in perpetuating our natural treasures. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the environment."Robert Dallek Douglas Brinkley's The Wilderness Warrior celebrated Theodore Roosevelt's spirit of outdoor exploration and bold vision to protect 234 million acres of wild America. Now, in Rightful Heritage, Brinkley turns his attention to another indefatigable environmental leaderTheodore's distant cousin Franklin Delano Rooseveltchronicling his essential yet undersung legacy as the founder of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the premier protector of America's public lands.

FDR built state park systems and scenic roadways from scratch. Through his leadership, pristine landscapes such as the Great Smokies, the Everglades, Joshua Tree, the Olympics, Big Bend, and the Channel Islands were forever saved. Brinkley traces FDR's love for the natural world back to his youth spent exploring the Hudson River Valley and bird-watching. Forestry would soon become a consuming passion. When asked his occupation, FDR would invariably reply, "Tree grower." As America's president from 1933 to 1945, Roosevelt, a consummate political strategist, established hundreds of federal migratory bird refuges and spearheaded the modern movement to protect endangered species. He deftly positioned his conservation goals as economic policy to combat the severe unemployment of the Great Depression. During its seven-year existence, the CCC put nearly three million young men to work on conservation projectsincluding planting trees, national park preservation, pollution control, and grasslands restoration.

Rightful Heritage is an epic chronicle that is both an irresistible portrait of FDR's unrivaled passion and drive and an indispensable analysis that skillfully illuminates the tension between business and natureexploiting our natural resources and conserving them. Within the narrative are brilliant capsule biographies of such environmental warriors as Eleanor Roosevelt, Harold Ickes, and Aldo Leopold. Rightful Heritage is essential reading for everyone interested in our treasured landscapes and historic sites as American birthrights. Advance Praise for Rightful Heritage "Rightful Heritage is a marvelous book in every sense; one of Douglas Brinkley's very best. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's achievements in conservation helped preserve the nation's natural bounty, but also made it accessible to the citizenry as never before. An easily forgotten legacy of the New Deal, those achievements presaged bold efforts at global conservation during World War II. By telling this grand story so well, Brinkley provokes readers to appreciate how, with great leadership and sufficient political will, the national government can perform wonders of its own."Sean Wilentz "Following his definitive look at Teddy Roosevelt's passion for wilderness conservation, Doug Brinkley now brings us a colorful, exciting narrative of how his cousin FDR carried on the cause of being a warrior for the environment.

By highlighting FDR's drive for protecting our land, Brinkley gives us a wonderful, timely new perspective on FDR; his wife, Eleanor; and the dedicated environmentalists around them."Walter Isaacson "With this engaging book, Douglas Brinkley recovers one of Franklin Roosevelt's long-overlooked legacies: his stewardship of America's natural resources. This is a vivid history of an important subject, and we are lucky that Brinkley has turned his attention to the Roosevelt we do not generally associate with the preservation of our environment."Jon Meacham "Douglas Brinkley's stunningly researched and compellingly written Rightful Heritage tells the story of a little-known White House love affairFDR's with the American wilderness. In our search for compassionate and clearheaded leaders to guide us through and beyond our current environmental crisis, Brinkley's vividly detailed account of Roosevelt's pioneering preservationism, which ensured that enormous swaths of landscape would remain 'forever wild,' may serve as a much-needed beacon and bible."Megan Marshall "Rightful Heritage is an irresistibly powerful and beautiful tale of America's fraught love affair with its land, told by one of our most gifted historians. From the white pines of the Adirondacks to the black volcanoes of Hawaii, Brinkley follows FDR on an astonishing journey that, despite war, depression, and political infighting, somehow preserved what is most precious to us."Candice Millard.