I am very glad this book was written, and equally pleased to have read it. But having done so, I am not sure I would buy it. I will use this review to explore the seeming contradiction between my enthusiasm and ambivalence. The book focuses on the regional conflict over the management of federally-managed forests in the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States. The controversy played out predominantly from 1988–1996, and the book reports the results of research undertaken from 1992–1996. The research is ethnographic, with the major data drawn from participant observation of events and from a series of unstructured interviews of various players in what was locally referred to as the ‘‘spotted owl wars.’’