Abstract
In Citizen Environmentalists, James Longhurst demonstrates that historical explanations of the modern environmental movement must take local context and political power into account. The book focuses on the proliferation of small, grassroots environmental advocacy groups in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It features a case study of one such organization in Pittsburgh: GASP (Group Against Smog and Pollution). By stressing local rather than national events, and by integrating a political-science perspective with urban social history, Longhurst provides new insights into the sources and development of environmental activism.