"[Citizen Justice is a] carefully written and researched book."—Jed S. Rakoff, New York Review of Books
"McKeown effectively demonstrates that Douglas was a citizen justice, and her portrait of his western upbringing, passion for nature, and maverick personality is compelling."—Mark Harvey, Western Historical Quarterly
“A magnificent portrayal not only of a heroic and brilliant yet nonetheless flawed justice but of the conservation movement of the second half of the twentieth-century in which Justice Douglas played a surprisingly central role. Judge McKeown’s highly engaging and richly detailed account underscores the enormously positive impact Douglas had on preserving the nation’s landscape.”—Richard J. Lazarus, professor of environmental and constitutional law at Harvard Law School
“We remember Justice William O. Douglas as the brilliant, irascible, much-married Supreme Court dissenter—but this fascinating and highly readable book makes the persuasive case that this unusual man was, above all, one of the great environmentalists of the twentieth century. Those of us who love the American landscape and its remaining wild places, as he did, are in his debt.”—Linda Greenhouse, author of Justice on the Brink: The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and Twelve Months That Transformed the Supreme Court
“William O. Douglas was chronically controversial, frequently cantankerous, sometimes conniving, and often cavalier about judicial ethics. But whether on the bench or on the trail, he toiled tirelessly and creatively to protect the wilderness he held so dear. This colorful and compelling book secures his rightful place in the pantheon of environmental champions.”—David M. Kennedy, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945
“Justice Douglas was a complicated figure, and his record is far from spotless. But with his hiking boots on, he brought things to American governance and jurisprudence that hadn’t been there before: a clear-eyed love for the world around us and a sense of the threats it faced. If he seems to us like a figure from another era, there were ways in which he was well ahead of his time.”—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
“Citizen Justice is a fiercely intelligent look at how William O. Douglas, America’s longest-serving Supreme Court justice, became the gold-standard conservation activist from the 1930s to the 1970s by promoting wilderness values and public lands preservation from Arctic Alaska to the Allagash of Maine. . . . This is environmental history at its monumental best. Highly recommended!”—Douglas Brinkley, author of Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
“From one distinguished federal judge of the twenty-first century, a revealing and inspiring look at one of the great judicial and public figures of the twentieth century. Our lives and decisions are guided by examples of what is possible. Through its story of William O. Douglas’s achievements as an environmentalist, Citizen Justice will equip others to care for the planet and their communities.”—James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic and coauthor of Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America
“Great women and men achieve immortality through the ideas that influence those who live after them, but William O. Douglas also achieved a more tangible and rarified immortality: protected wilderness—from the Brooks Range in Alaska, to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, to the William O. Douglas Wilderness in Washington State. Citizen Justice captures Douglas’s odyssey in a fascinating and poignant way.”—Rick Ridgeway, mountaineer, environmentalist, and author of Life Lived Wild: Adventures at the Edge of the Map
“A fascinating and engaging book exploring the story of iconoclastic Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and the dual role he played on and off the court in the world of conservation and the environment.”—Rose Marcario, former CEO of Patagonia
