PAGES : A New Chapter in the Life of Al Gore

Praised by literary critics and vilified by Dan Quayle in last year’s vice presidential debate, Al Gore’s “Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit” has won this year’s Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.

The book by the then-senator from Tennessee was published in January, 1992, by Houghton Mifflin. It became an environmental record-breaker, spending 26 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.

“Earth in the Balance” presents Vice President Gore’s comprehensive plan to save the planet. “No one can afford to assume that the world will somehow solve its problems,” he writes. “We must all become partners in a bold effort to change the very foundation of our civilization.”

Robert Kennedy Jr., an attorney and professor at Pace University, praised Gore’s book for recognizing “ all of Robert F. Kennedy’s concerns--civil rights, social justice, public health, jobs and the economy, problems of poverty, international stability and the integrity of our democracy.”

The award carries a $2,500 cash prize and a bust of Robert F. Kennedy.