American Environmental History: An Introduction
- ISBN-10
- 0231140355
- ISBN-13
- 9780231140355
- Series
- American Environmental History
- Category
- Human ecology
- Pages
- 480
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2007
- Publisher
- Columbia University Press
- Author
- Carolyn Merchant
Description
By studying the many ways diverse peoples have changed, shaped, and conserved the natural world over time, environmental historians provide insight into humanity's unique relationship with nature and, more importantly, are better able to understand the origins of our current environmental crisis. Beginning with the precolonial land-use practice of Native Americans and concluding with our twenty-first century concerns over our global ecological crisis, American Environmental History addresses contentious issues such as the preservation of the wilderness, the expulsion of native peoples from national parks, and population growth, and considers the formative forces of gender, race, and class. Entries address a range of topics, from the impact of rice cultivation, slavery, and the growth of the automobile suburb to the effects of the Russian sea otter trade, Columbia River salmon fisheries, the environmental justice movement, and globalization. This illustrated reference is an essential companion for students interested in the ongoing transformation of the American landscape and the conflicts over its resources and conservation. It makes rich use of the tools and resources (climatic and geological data, court records, archaeological digs, and the writings of naturalists) that environmental historians rely on to conduct their research. The volume also includes a compendium of significant people, concepts, events, agencies, and legislation, and an extensive bibliography of critical films, books, and Web sites.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2007-10-31
- 464 pages
- Ebook
- Columbia University Press
-
- 2017-12-14
- 268 pages
- Paperback
- Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Similar books
-
To Love the Wind and the Rain: African Americans and Environmental History
By Mark Stoll, Dianne D. GlaveAn analysis of the relationship between African Americans and the environment focuses on three major themes: African Americans in the rural environment, African Americans in the urban and suburban environments, and African Americans and the ...
-
Environmental History and the American South: A Reader
By Paul Sutter, Christopher J. ManganielloThis volume suggests, then, that southern environmental history has not only arrived but also that it may prove an important space for the growth of the larger environmental history enterprise.” The writings, which range in setting from ...
-
An Environmental History of Latin America
By Shawn William MillerCovering a period that begins with Amerindian civilizations and concludes in the region's present urban agglomerations, the work offers an original synthesis of the current scholarship on Latin America's environmental history and argues ...
-
Beyond Nature's Housekeepers: American Women in Environmental History
By Nancy C. UngerThis book highlights the unique and complex role women have played in the shaping of the American environment from pre-Columbian Native Americans to present day environmental justice activists.
-
A Companion to American Environmental History
By Douglas Cazaux SackmanThe essays in this volume are presented in five parts, covering a diverse set of topics that range from American Indian environmental relations, oceans, and food to borders, culture, and identity.
-
The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History
By Carolyn MerchantRasmussen, Barbara. Absentee Landowning and Exploitation in West Virginia, 1760–1920. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1994. Raup, Hugh M. “The View From John Sanderson's Farm: A Perspective for the Use of the Land.
-
US Environmental History
By John WillsA textbook introduction to US environmental history which allows readers to develop a basic understanding of land exploration, natural resources, conservation efforts and environmental catastrophes.
-
The Environment in American History: Nature and the Formation of the United States
By Jeff CraneWhenLES thenfurther limited its focusto six sites in Clairborne Parish, the aggregate average rose again, to 64.74 percent. The final site selected, theLeSage site, has a 97.10 percentage of blacks in the population within a one-mile ...
-
Rethinking the American Environmental Movement post-1945
By Ellen Spears" This book provides a succinct overview of the American environmental movement and is the perfect introduction for students or scholars seeking to understand one of the largest social movements of the twentieth century up through the ...
-
First Along the River: A Brief History of the U.S. Environmental Movement
By Benjamin Kline"A truly unique work, accessible to all, that demonstrates the common property nature of our global environment and its unwitting exploitation in the not-so-common interest.