Grassroots and radical environmental movements have become important actors in global environmental politics. Since the early 1990s, Taylor has studied such movements, especially Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front. In this book, Taylor commissioned scholars to explore grassroots environmental protest movements around the world, analyzing the ways in which they resemble and differ from one another with regard to their critical analyses and strategies, religious and ethical motives, and political impacts. 

When published, there was nothing like this book in scholarly literature. It has been assigned at over 50 colleges and universities in more than a dozen countries. The conditions that gave rise to these movements have only intensified, suggesting that for the foreseeable future, ecological resistance movements will continue to pose direct challenges the environmental beliefs and practices that predominate in the today's world. This book and the issues raised in it remain highly relevant to the global struggle for environmental sustainability and social justice.