Defender of the Dunes: The Kathleen Goddard Jones Story

by Virginia Cornell, Manifest Publications

A wind-sculpted wilderness? - or the harsh grey outlines of a nuclear power plant? That was the choice confronting Kathleen Goddard Jones when she first set foot on Central California's Nipomo Dunes, stretching 18 unexplained miles from Pismo Beach to Point Sal. She opted for an all-out campaign to save the dunes, defying powerful commercial interests that fought to squelch her dream every step of the way. Sometimes the danger lurked within her fellow Sierra Club members’ private ambitions. Kathleen was nearing sixty, not an average age for launching an underdog crusade. But she was not an average woman. Survivor of three husbands and countless tumultuous love affairs, she brought immense reserves of charm, diplomacy and modern public relations skills along with her raw courage to a struggle that would consume thirty years of her life. After the resounding success of Virginia Cornell’s first book, Doc The True Story of a Country Physician in the Colorado Rockies, she wanted to write about another woman of accomplishment. Her search led her to the gutsy little environmentalist, Kathleen Goddard Jones. Virginia and Kathleen spent many happy hours tramping together across the Nipomo Dunes, where Kathleen was brutally frank about her triumphs, her despairs, her affairs

164 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story of saving the Nipomo dunes in central California from development. Not a great literary work but interesting story someone should make a movie out of this.