Leave It As It Is

A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt's American Wilderness

By: David Gessner

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

Bestselling author David Gessner’s wilderness road trip inspired by America’s greatest conservationist, Theodore Roosevelt, is “a rallying cry in the age of climate change” (Robert Redford).

“Leave it as it is,” Theodore Roosevelt announced while viewing the Grand Canyon for the first time. “The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.” Roosevelt’s pronouncement signaled the beginning of an environmental fight that still wages today. To reconnect with the American wilderness and with the president who courageously protected it, acclaimed nature writer and New York Times bestselling author David Gessner embarks on a great American road trip guided by Roosevelt’s crusading environmental legacy.

Gessner travels to the Dakota badlands where Roosevelt awakened as a naturalist; to Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon where Roosevelt escaped during the grind of his reelection tour; and finally, to Bears Ears, Utah, a monument proposed by Native Tribes that is currently embroiled in a national conservation fight. Along the way, Gessner questions and reimagines Roosevelt’s vision for today’s lands.

“Insightful, observant, and wry,” (BookPage) Leave It As It Is offers an arresting history of Roosevelt’s pioneering conservationism, a powerful call to arms, and a profound meditation on our environmental future.

Critic reviews

"Theodore Roosevelt is rightly remembered as a champion of the American wilderness. This audiobook chronicles the author's journey through the lands that most inspired the president. Fred Sanders offers a smooth, even narration. There is reverence in his tone when delivering descriptions of the natural world and deep emotion when rendering the author's pleas for a renewed national commitment to conservation."

Decent book

All in all it’s a pretty interesting book on Roosevelt and how a lot of public land came to be. The only parts I didn’t care for is when the author stopped being objective and let his personal feelings on the Trump administration come out and he would go on rants. The readers voice is boring and robotic.

Needs editing

Great material but an editor really needed to get in there and slash repetition, minimize some of the unrelated material. Still good info but hard to keep listening

The mix of stories and facts

Really liked the information in this book, though the truth is sometimes difficult to accept

Thought provoking

To be fair: it's not really a book about Teddy Roosevelt. It's a very relevant story about the current state of dealing with public lands. Very thought provoking although I could do without the profanaties. Very engaging and eye opening.

Great narrator as well!

Boring

The author fails to make the story engaging. Roosevelt is an interesting figure, and public lands are an emotional and important topic. Somehow the book makes them dull.