The Green and the Brown

1. The Nazis and the environment: a relevant topic?; 2. Ideas: diverse roots and a common cause; 3. Institutions: working towards the Führer; 4. Conservation at work: four case studies; 5. On the paper trail: the everyday business of conservation; 6. Changes in the land; 7. Continuity and silence: conservation after 1945; 8. Lessons.

Frank Uekoetter is a researcher in the History Department at Bielefeld University. He is the author of two monographs and editor, alone or in part, of four other collections. He is also author of articles published in Business History Review, Environment and History, and Historical Social Research.

"This is a book we very much need. Frank Uekoetter brings together a wealth of material and original argument in accessible form. His examples are vivid, and he effectively challenges many misconceptions about nature conservation in the Third Reich. Wide-ranging in scope and clear-eyed in its judgments, this thoughtful and elegantly constructed book deserves a wide readership." -David Blackbourn, Harvard University "Frank Uekotter's engaging and nuanced study of conservation under the Nazi regime demolishes recent claims that contemporary environmentalism in Germany can be traced back to the Third Reich. Although conservationists willingly cooperated with the Nazi state and appealed to leading Nazis, such as Hermann Goring and Heinrich Himmler, to pursue their goals, neither conservationist ideology nor environmental legislation held much influence in a regime hell-bent on rearmament and Lebensraum. By highlighting conservationists' tactical accommodations to Nazism and their unwillingness to confront the enormity of Nazi racism and imperialism, however, Uekotter underscores the real lesson for contemporary environmentalists: the moral and political success of their goals depends on the care and clear-sightedness with which they build political alliances." -Shelley Baranowski, University of Akron "Frank Uekoetter's The Green and the Brown is the latest and, in many ways, the best contribution to this burgeoning field. ... Well researched and cogently argued, this book should be read by environmental historians and Third Reich historians alike, and most especially by scholars in search of new and innovative research projects in these fields." -Mark Cioc, Central European History "The Green and the Brown is a compelling overview of the complex and contradictory history of German conservationist movements under the Nazi regime... an important and accessible contribution to scholarship on Nazi Germany and warrants a wide readership." -Environment & History "Frank