This Land Is Our Land

How We Lost the Right to Roam and How to Take It Back

Nonfiction, Travel, Lodging & Restaurant Guides, Parks & Campgrounds, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Government, Public Policy, Science & Nature, Nature, Environment, Environmental Conservation & Protection
Cover of the book This Land Is Our Land by Ken Ilgunas, Penguin Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ken Ilgunas ISBN: 9780735217850
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group Publication: April 10, 2018
Imprint: Plume Language: English
Author: Ken Ilgunas
ISBN: 9780735217850
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication: April 10, 2018
Imprint: Plume
Language: English

Private property is everywhere. Almost anywhere you walk in the United States, you will spot “No Trespassing” and “Private Property” signs on trees and fence posts. In America, there are more than a billion acres of grassland pasture, cropland, and forest, and miles and miles of coastlines that are mostly closed off to the public. Meanwhile, America’s public lands are threatened by extremist groups and right-wing think tanks who call for our public lands to be sold to the highest bidder and closed off to everyone else. If these groups get their way, public property may become private, precious green spaces may be developed, and the common good may be sacrificed for the benefit of the wealthy few.

Ken Ilgunas, lifelong traveler, hitchhiker, and roamer, takes readers back to the nineteenth century, when Americans were allowed to journey undisturbed across the country. Today, though, America finds itself as an outlier in the Western world as a number of European countries have created sophisticated legal systems that protect landowners and give citizens generous roaming rights to their countries' green spaces.

Inspired by the United States' history of roaming, and taking guidance from present-day Europe, Ilgunas calls into question our entrenched understanding of private property and provocatively proposes something unheard of: opening up American private property for public recreation. He imagines a future in which folks everywhere will have the right to walk safely, explore freely, and roam boldly—from California to the New York island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Private property is everywhere. Almost anywhere you walk in the United States, you will spot “No Trespassing” and “Private Property” signs on trees and fence posts. In America, there are more than a billion acres of grassland pasture, cropland, and forest, and miles and miles of coastlines that are mostly closed off to the public. Meanwhile, America’s public lands are threatened by extremist groups and right-wing think tanks who call for our public lands to be sold to the highest bidder and closed off to everyone else. If these groups get their way, public property may become private, precious green spaces may be developed, and the common good may be sacrificed for the benefit of the wealthy few.

Ken Ilgunas, lifelong traveler, hitchhiker, and roamer, takes readers back to the nineteenth century, when Americans were allowed to journey undisturbed across the country. Today, though, America finds itself as an outlier in the Western world as a number of European countries have created sophisticated legal systems that protect landowners and give citizens generous roaming rights to their countries' green spaces.

Inspired by the United States' history of roaming, and taking guidance from present-day Europe, Ilgunas calls into question our entrenched understanding of private property and provocatively proposes something unheard of: opening up American private property for public recreation. He imagines a future in which folks everywhere will have the right to walk safely, explore freely, and roam boldly—from California to the New York island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters.

More books from Penguin Publishing Group

Cover of the book The Lost Plot by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book Illuminate by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book Dog Days by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book Four Guys and Trouble by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book The Guests on South Battery by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book The Staggerford Flood by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book Too Bad to Die by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book Angler by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book The Prince and the Pauper by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book The Ground Truth by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book Not a Creature Was Purring by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book Olive and Let Die by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book True Stories of CSI by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book Free Fire by Ken Ilgunas
Cover of the book Love Letters from Ladybug Farm by Ken Ilgunas
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy