The Left Hand of Eden contributes to the growing, often contentious debate on wilderness and forest practices, but does so from an unusual perspective - that of an environmentalist advocating abandonment of wilderness preservation. Ashworth argues that wilderness preservation is a form of separation from the land and, as such, is as harmful to nature as logging or mining. Treating nature as something "other" - whether to preserve it or destroy it - creates a false dichotomy, from which all modern environmental battles arise: use versus preservation, civilization versus wilderness. Ashworth presents his ideas in a series of linked nature essays. In these writings he shows that proper care for the land requires not just use or reverence, but use with reverence.