Award-winning author Jeffrey Greene provides a portrait, by turns 
lyrical and provocative, of J. David Bamberger's unlikely 
transformation from first, a vacuum cleaner salesman, then to co-
founder and CEO of Church's Fried Chicken, to an internationally 
recognized conservationist. In fact, Greene tells two integrally 
related stories: the evolution of one man's business sense, applying 
profit incentives to land restoration and nature conservancy; and 
the creation of a Texas Hill Country preserve where he effectively 
demonstrates his own principles.

    Growing up in rural Ohio during the Great Depression and 
World War II, Bamberger learned at an early age to shun waste, 
grow food productively, and admire the Amish for living in harmony 
with the land. His mother taught him to love the natural world and 
gave him a book that would set the course for his life: Pleasant 
Valley, by Louis Bromfield, a visionary American advocate for land 
restoration. Inspired by his new role model, Bamberger would say, 
"If I ever make money, I want to do what Bromfield did."

    After finding that financial success, Bamberger bought what he 
describes as "the sorriest piece of land in Blanco County" and 
entered upon his decades-long effort to restore the ecological 
balance of 5,500 acres that had been virtually destroyed by more 
than a century of misuse. Naming his preserve Selah—from the 
Old Testament term meaning "pause and reflect"—Bamberger 
dedicates himself and his resources to protecting species and 
educating school children, conservation groups, government 
officials, and everyone else who will listen to his central message, 
delivered with evangelical zeal: We must take care of the earth, 
and anyone can help.

    Today, David and his wife, Margaret, have received many 
awards, and he has been featured in The New Yorker, in Audubon, 
and on CNN and network news. But until now, no one has fully told 
the story of how a man with vision transformed a place—and in 
doing so, transformed himself.

_________________________________________________________

JEFFREY GREENE is the author of the memoir French Spirits and 
three collections of poetry. He lives in Paris.


Number Forty-One: Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series


What people are saying about this book

" . . . one of the Texas Hill Country's greatest conservation success 
stories."—Texas Parks and Wildlife, December 2007

"An accomplished poet and memoirist, he weaves history, ecology, 
anecdote, statistical evidence and keen personal observation into a 
tapestry that’s richly textured but never heavy, a book that’s a 
pleasure to read and that might gently persuade—even inspire—a 
reader with little prior commitment to environmental causes to live 
more consciously on the earth."—New Southerner, November, 2007

"The story of J. David Bamberger is the Cinderella tale and the 
American dream wrapped together in a man who started as a door-
to-door vacuum cleaner salesman . . . and then devoted his golden 
years to environmental responsibility in the Texas Hill Country."
—The Permian Historical Annual, 2007

". . . well-written and compelling…Margaret’s own illustrations add 
such a special dimension to the volume. . ."—Lone Star Sierran, 
Summer 2007