cover image Property Matters

Property Matters

James V. DeLong. Free Press, $27.5 (400pp) ISBN 978-0-684-87437-1

Sympathetic with the growing nationwide movement in defense of property rights, DeLong, a lawyer based in Washington, D.C., here reviews dozens of disputes that pit the aims of environmentalists, historic preservationists and government agencies against home owners, property developers, farmers, loggers, miners, landowners and commercial enterprises. Time and again, he charges, federal regulators dedicated to protecting wetlands, endangered species or other natural resources ride roughshod over the rights of property owners through aggressive application of ambiguous statutes, ignorance of local conditions and inflexibility. DeLong devotes substantial attention to conflicts over grazing, timber, water and recreation in the American West; he also suggests ways to resolve or prevent zoning and environmental and planning controversies in urban and suburban America. Distinguished by its thoroughgoing analysis and levelheaded tone, this partisan casebook will appeal primarily to policy makers, legal experts and activists. (Mar.)