Few individuals have exerted as much influence (or acquired as much wealth) as Ted Turner, the world famous business man responsible for the genesis of CNN, TBS Superstation and more media landmarks of the 20th and 21st centuries. Few men also have been as controversial and misunderstood, praised and villainized in nearly equally measures.

But perhaps we Bozemanites know him a little better than the rest of the country, since we have the privilege of being able to look every day at the enormous acreage that he has acquired in our beautiful valley. What’s more, we have the even greater privilege of seeing it unspoiled, as opposed to sometimes dizzying parceling, dividing and developing that has and continues to threaten to overtake some of our most beautiful local wilds.

It is Ted Turner the passionate environmentalist and humanitarian that we are introduced to in Todd Wilkinson’s new book “Last Stand: Ted Turner’s Quest To Save A Troubled Planet”. In the book we are afforded an intimate view of this side of Mr. Turner, focusing on his efforts to be a responsible steward of the planet, and to share his enormous wealth with each and every one of us through pragmatic, long-term projects.

In the book, which is a fascinating and well-written read, we find out that Turner’s fixation on helping restore nature is deeply engrained in him, fostered in part by a childhood spent in wonder of the outdoors and perhaps more significantly by Turner’s decades-long friendship with Jacques Cousteau, whom he considered an inspiration, mentor and father figure. We also find out that he was not always so successful at it: after one of his first attempts to restore wildlife to his Avalon Plantation in Florida one of the cougars released was struck by a car on a nearby Highway.

The book also spends a good deal of time on the subject of his Flying D Ranch (which nearly all locals will be familiar with, likely having driven across it and admired the view) including how he bought it, famously sold off the thousands of head of cattle to make room for his now legendary herd of bison, and has turned it into a pristine sanctuary for a variety of endangered and troubled species. It also goes on to contrast Turner’s treatment of his Flying D with the land that Tim Blixseth acquired and which would become the Big Sky Resort and the Yellowstone Club.

In later chapters the author shows how Turner’s drive and compassion have made him an advocate not just of environmental issues but of deeply human ones as well. In addition to contributing $1 billion to the UN at a very crucial juncture we learn that he is deeply concerned about the threat of nuclear proliferation, a subject about which he has conferred at length with world leaders including his good friend Mikhail Gorbachev. To that end he formed the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which has significantly reduced nuclear threats, and ensuring that about “one out of ten” light bulbs in America are now “powered by material that twenty years ago was in Soviet missiles pointed at us and our friends”. That he was able to donate some $80 million dollars to the Nuclear Threat Initiative even after dramatic financial reversals precipitated by the AOL Time-Warner merger speaks to his dedication to a topic that should concern us all.

Readers curious about his tumultuous but loving marriage with Jane Fonda, his troubled relationship with a suicidal father, and the way in which he has sought to include his own children in the decision-making processes of his humanitarian and environmental organizations will also find much of interest here. And last but not least, nostalgic twenty-somethings (like myself) who grew up watching “Captain Planet”, the popular and prescient environmentally themed superhero show of the 90s (“When our powers unite…”) are even treated to the story of the show’s beginnings.

The book is detailed, vital, and informative, and the author Mr. Wilkinson’s keen eye and illuminative style manages to tell all of the rigorously studied facts of Turner’s humanitarian ventures with a bold, even literary style. Finishing the book, we are sure that we have come to a greater understanding of a sometimes elusive figure, someone who as this book shows, has come to occupy a large, and important part in the new history of the American West.
The author, Todd Wilkinson, will be interviewing Mr. Turner onstage at the Ellen Theater on Friday, June 21st (on the summer solstice!). Both Todd Wilkinson and Ted Turner will be available for book signings. It will begin at 7:00 pm, and both are looking forward to having a large and engaged crowd. “Last Stand: Ted Turner’s Quest to Save a Troubled Planet” is available wherever books are sold.

Joseph Shelton is a freelance writer, and his DVD reviews can be read weekly in the Get Out! section of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Contact him at j.r.shelton87@gmail.com.