"This account of environmental law is rooted in the author’s expertise as a leading legal scholar in the area, augmented by serious attention to the work of political scientists and historians who have studied the development of environmental law. The Making of Environmental Law will fill a significant gap in the literature, providing an important reference for both environmental historians and legal scholars."

Daniel A. Farber, author of Eco-pragmatism: Making Sensible Environmental Decisions in an Uncertain World

"A must read for anyone who cares about how we best go about addressing environmental challenges of clean air, clean water, and global warming."

Carol M. Browner, former U.S. EPA Administrator

"This is a wonderful book. Not only does Lazarus elegantly and comprehensively recount the history of the law’s development over the past three decades, but he brings to the story a remarkably well-informed and sophisticated appreciation of how the political/legal system works. Having been in some of the trenches that he surveys, I can attest that he has got it just right."

Joseph L. Sax, author of Mountains without Handrails: Reflections on the National Parks

"There is no better way to understand the complex, multilayered world of modern environmental law than to retrace its history. Richard Lazarus has produced an engrossing account of the evolution of environmental law, weaving together the intellectual forces, constitutional constraints, political competition--and of course the uniquely challenging nature of environmental problems themselves--that have combined to produce the regulatory system we have today. Lazarus, who has been both a participant in and observer of the development of environmental law throughout his career, is uniquely qualified to provide this kind of synthesis. All future attempts to explain the emergence of modern American environmental law will have to start with this account."

Thomas W. Merrill

"A lively, elegant, and comprehensive account of how environmental law came to be, what makes it distinctive among legal institutions, why it has persisted, and its future prospects."

Jonathan Cannon | Environmental History

"Lazarus’s highly accessible and enjoyable book should be considered by anyone seeking an introduction to environmental law and policy for classroom use. . . .  [The Making of EnvironmentalLaw] provides a humbling but necessary guidebook for those who seek to re-situate environmentalism within the changing American political landscape."

Douglas A. Kysar | Political Science Quarterly

"Readers focusing on the legal scholarship will find much to like here, particularly the breezy way [Lazarus] renders what might otherwise be arcane jargon into engaging naratives about the past, present, and future of environmental law."

Craig W. Thomas | Perspectives on Politics

"Lazarus’s history of environmental law is a welcome relief from  . . . explicitly partisan perspectives on environmentalism. . . . He avoids a myopic academic focus on doctrinal developments and analyzes the decline in salience of national environmental issues."

Mark van Putten | BioScience

[The book is] interdisciplinary, covering everything from ecological theory in the opening chapters to the historical, economic, and politcal contexts of environmental law. . . . An engaging and articulate book that strives to reach a broad audience beyond law schools."

Craig W. Thomas | Perspectives on Politics

"A wide-ranging and often fascinating analysis of the evolution of American environmental law. Whether setting the stage in terms of the cultural and scientific background for the US environmental movement or discussing the legislative background . . . Lazarus has written a concise yet immensely interesting view of the various elements that have played major parts in the development of US environmental law."

Don C. Smith | Yearbook of European Environmental Law