The Columbia guide to American environmental history

Carolyn Merchant

Columbia University Press, 2002 - Nature - 448 pages

How and why have Americans living at particular times and places used and transformed their environment? How have political systems dealt with conflicts over resources and conservation? This is the only major reference work to explore all the major themes and debates in the burgeoning field of environmental history. Humanity's relationship with the natural world is one of the oldest and newest topics in human history. The issue emerged as a distinct field of scholarship in the early 1970s and has been growing steadily ever since. The discipline's territory and sources are rich and varied and include climatic and geological data, court records, archaeological digs, and the writings of naturalists, as well as federal and state economic and resource development and conservation policy. Environmental historians investigate how and why natural and human-created surroundings affect a society's development. Merchant provides a context-setting overview of American environmental history from the precolonial land-use practice of Native Americans and concluding with twenty-first concerns over global warming. The book also includes a glossary of important concepts, people, agencies, and legislation; a chronology of major events; and an extensive bibliography including films, videos, CD-ROMs, and websites.

This concise reference for students and general readers contains an accessible overview of American environmental history; a mini-encyclopedia of ideas, people, legislation, and agencies; a chronology of events and their significance; and a bibliography of books, magazines, and journals as well as films, videos, CD-ROMs, and online resources.

In addition to providing a wealth of factual information, The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History explores contentious issues in this much-debated field, from the idea of wilderness to global warming.

What people are saying

Review: The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History (Columbia Guides to American History and Cultures)

User Review  - Andrea - Goodreads

A comprehensive look at environmentalism in the United States. This book is a oft-referenced, well-researched history of the political and social factors that shaped the environmental laws and attitudes we have today.

Contents

• Topics and Themes: 3
• The New England Wilderness Transformed 16001850: 24
• The Tobacco and Cotton South 16001900: 39
• Nature and the Market Economy 17501850: 59
• The Settlement of California and the Great: 80
• Urban Environments 18501960: 100
• Conservation and Preservation 17851950: 120
• Chapters Indian Land Policy 18001990: 140
• The Rise of Ecology 1890 1990: 159
• The Era of Environmentalism 19402000: 174
• Agencies: 191
• An Environmental History Timeline: 249
• Visual Resources: 271
• Electronic Resources: 291
• Bibliographical Essay: 311
• Bibliography: 323
• Anthologies and Bibliographies: 325
• Biographies and Autobiographical Writings: 327
• African Americans and the Environment: 332
• American Indian Land Use: 335
• American Indian Religion 34 J 7 Asian Americans and the Environment: 346
• Environmental Philosophy and Landscape Perception: 348
• The Environmental Movement: 352
• The History of Ecology: 355
• The History of Environmental Science: 356
• Conservation History and Legislation: 358
• Agricultural History: 364
• Foresf History: 371
• Mining History: 386
• Pollution: 390
• Range History: 392
• Water and Irrigation History: 395
• Wilderness Preservation: 404
• WiWie: 410
• The Urban Environment: 417
• Index: 423

About the author

Carolyn Merchant is the Chancellor's Professor of Environmental History, Philosophy, and Ethics at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of several books including "The Death of Nature," "Ecological Revolutions," and "Earthcare," and is a past-president of the American Society for Environmental History.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Columbia guide to American environmental history; The Columbia Guides to American History and Cultures
• Author: Carolyn Merchant
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2002
• ISBN: 0231112327, 9780231112321
• Length: 448 pages
• Subjects: History / United States / General; Nature / Ecology; Science / Environmental Science; Social Science / Human Geography