NCCC Bookstore

All new members receive a free copy

Contact us for information on obtaining a complimentary copy at ncccinfo@northcascades.org

Wilderness Alps: Conservation and Conflict in Washington’s North Cascades

By Harvey Manning and NCCC

Published by Northwest Wild Books, 2007
480 pages, with maps, historic photos, and beautiful color images by Pat O’Hara, Dave Schiefelbein, Tom Hammond, and others. Introduction by David Brower.

Praise for the book:
” . . . a splendidly partisan account of citizens’ fight for wilderness in the North Cascades.”
Estella Leopold, Ph.D., conservationist, professor emeritus of biology a the University of Washington and daughter of Aldo Leopold

“Harvey Manning more than lived the North Cascades, he embodied them. Many neophytes were introduced to the North Cascades by Harvey’s books, and many who thought they knew these mountains well became impressed by the depth of scholarly effort he managed to extract and the story he had to tell.”
David Fluharty, Ph.D., associate professor of natural resource policy at the University of Washington, board member and past President of NCCC

This book has so much: the characters, from the First Ones of long ago to the military explorers, the miners and railroad people, the loggers and grazers, the fools and charlatans, the promoters and speculators, the dam builders and ubiquitous Chambers of Commerce, the politicians–all swaggering and posturing across the stage, sometimes with such forceful schemes that one wonders how there is still, now, so much left.”
Brock Evans,  past president,
 Endangered Species Coalition.

“It is lively and thoroughly human in dimension. The power of the book comes from pure passion to protect and preserve a matchless, magnificent fragment of raw nature. . .  An invaluable and major contribution to Northwest conservation history.”
–Michael Frome, Ph. D., educator, activist, and author of Battle for the Wildernessand Heal the Earth, Heal the Soul


Endless Pressure, Endlessly Applied

The Autobiography of an Eco-Warrior

By Brock Evans

Brock was a board member of N3C and fought many legal battles to save crucial parts of the North Cascades. His autobiography is now available with all proceeds going to environmental organizations!


An Open Pit Visible from the Moon: The Wilderness Act and the Fight to Protect Miner’s Ridge and the Public Interest

By Adam M. Sowards

An Open Pit Visible from the Moon tells the story of this historic struggle led by NCCC to define the contours of the Wilderness Act—its possibilities and limits. Combining rigorous analysis and deft storytelling, Adam M. Sowards re-creates the contest between Kennecott and its shareholders on one hand and activists on the other, intent on maintaining wilderness as a place immune to the calculus of profit. A host of actors cross these pages—from cabinet secretaries and a Supreme Court justice to local doctors and college students—all contributing to a drama that made Miners Ridge a cause célèbre for the nation’s wilderness movement. As locals testified at public hearings and writers penned profiles in the nation’s magazines and newspapers, the volatile political economy of copper proved equally influential in frustrating Kennecott’s plans.


Stehekin: A Valley in Time

by Grant McConnell

A modern, unsentimental, bittersweet account of a time and place that was – the American past.

Imagine a valley of incomparable natural beauty, accessible only by boat, seaplane, or foot, and protected from the ambiguous benefits of modern civilization by craggy, snow-covered peaks and an alpine like 55 miles long. Then imagine a small close-knit community of fiercely independent Americans whose economic system was based, not on supply and demand but on “ideas of need, ability and neighborliness.”

This was Stehekin at the end of World War II… a mountain valley located less than 120 miles from downtown Seattle… In the nationwide pause that immediately followed the war, Grant McConnell and his wife – both young, educated and city-bred – settled in the Stehekin Valley for what was to be a winter of catching up…

Stehekin still exists, and it remains inaccessible by road, yet the special pioneering spirit that once set it apart from the outside world is now little more than an elusive whisper in the pines. Stehekin’s story is the story of all Americans in the 20th century… McConnell captured with warmth, thoughtfulness, and humor the unique people and quality of life he found in the valley. This is also the story of the valley itself, of a sequestered beauty that, better than most, has survived the ravages of time and progress.


Impressions of the North Cascades – FREE e-Book

Essays about a Northwest Landscape

Edited by John C. Miles
Illustrations by Dale Hamilton

Impressions of the North Cascades has been made available for you to read FREE online here on the NCCC website!

While this title is no longer in print, some paperback copies may be available from Village Books.

<== Click the Cover Image to begin

“This awesome essay collection is a moving look at the history and future of the north cascades. The essays come from many people who have been touched by the mountains and their moving prose makes you want to take to the mountains yourself. Topics range from the ancient geologic history of the range to the historical use of the range from Native Americans to gold diggers and loggers. It then proceeds to current issues, dams, recreation and logging, and ends with a look into what the future may hold for these majestic mountains.”

Jessica at Village Books