"In often moving prose and through a select history of landscape photography and film, Natural Visions offers a compelling analysis of how changing environmental politics in America were intimately connected to different ways of seeing nature. Finis Dunaway offers a novel look into the history of American environmentalism, one that demonstrates the centrality of the visual in the portrayal and defense of nature in America. This book is an important addition to a growing body of literature on the historical role of visual media in shaping the American environmental imaginary."

Gregg Mitman, author of Reel Nature: America's Romance with Wildlife on Film

“Beautifully written and a pleasure to read, Finis Dunaway’s Natural Visions offers many shrewd insights. The book will be welcomed by environmental and cultural historians as a thoughtful and insightful scholarly contribution and should find a broad general readership with its accessible prose and engaging illustrations.”

Paul S. Boyer, editor of The Oxford Companion to United States History

“Looking at photographs by Herbert Gleason, Ansel Adams, and Eliot Porter; New Deal documentaries by Pare Lorentz and Robert Flaherty; and posters and coffee table tomes published by the Sierra Club, Natural Visions tells the story of how pictures helped modern Americans imagine ecology as a new kind of civil religion. In this fresh and insightful book, Finis Dunaway traces the intersections of visual images and religious feeling from the Progressive era to the first Earth Day and convincingly explains how nature photography’s ‘gospel of seeing’ was translated into a moral mission of environmental defense.”

Erika Doss, author of Twentieth-Century American Art

“It is the artists behind the images who interest [Dunaway] most, in particular the way they were carried along by, or leaned against, the political and cultural winds, and how their actions led to the modern environmental movement. He has a fine eye for subtleties, and a light touch.”

Michael Bond | New Scientist

"A fresh addition to any library’s environmental or photography collection." --Library Journal

Patricia Ann Owens | Library Journal

 “In Natural Visions, Dunaway takes us on a cultural tour of many of the most politically powerful environmental images of the twentieth century, using a richly biographical approach to situate images within their full contexts.”

Thomas Roberston | American Quarterly

“Until Finis Dunaway’s Natural Visions, no one had yet produced a history of the camera’s effect on environmental politics. . . . Well written, and at times even poetic, Natural Visions is a compelling study with much to offer both general readers and specialists in environmental representation.”

Daniel J. Philippon | Environmental History

"By revealing how a key series of books and films on environmental themes were carefully constructed to convey particular political messages, [Dunaway] makes a valuable addition to our understanding of photographic history as well as the history of environmental reform."

Martha A. Sandweis | Western Historical Quarterly

"[Dunaway] has done an admirable job of tracing the twentieth century’s tradition of visual environmentalism. . . . That the book feels too short for its rich subject or the power of its questions is not so much to regret."

Peter Bacon Hales | Technology and Culture

"His balanced and thoughtful consideration of the subject matter, and the careful attention he gives to the biographies of his subject, make Dunaway’s well-written book an insightful contribution to studies of environmental cultural production."

Andil Gosine | Alternatives Journal

"Essential for readers with interests in American environmental history and visual studies. . . . Dunaway provides thorough biographical and analytical research on each artist, connecting their work to larger cultural perceptions about the natural world."

Gwynne Middleton | Isle

"This compelling, beautifully written book argues that conservationists used the power of photographic images to shape popular perceptions of nature and influence environmental politics. . . . An outstanding work. Specialists in material culture, art history, American studies, and environmental history should find it informative and thought provoking."

Mark Fiege | Winterthur Portfolio

"Dunaway’s book is a deft contribution to cultural history. . . . Dunaway shows how deeply ecological insight, environmental politics, and aesthetic judgment can shape one another. . . . Dunaway says much about abiding visual cues in American environnmentalism, while saying a great deal as well about American traditions in literature, visual arts, ecological thought, and consumer culture."

Frieda Knobloch | American Studies