Down to earth : nature's role in American history / Ted Steinberg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steinberg, Theodore, 1961-

Contributor:

Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human ecology--United States--History.

Human ecology.

Philosophy of nature--United States--History.

Philosophy of nature.

Human beings--Effect of environment on--United States--History.

Human beings.

Environmental conditions.

Human beings--Effect of environment on.

History.

United States--Environmental conditions.

United States.

Physical Description:

xiv, 347 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 2002.

Summary:

A tour de force of writing and analysis, Down to Earth offers a sweeping history of our nation, one that for the first time places the environment at the very center of our story. Writing with marvelous clarity, historian Ted Steinberg sweeps across the centuries, re-envisioning the story of America as he recounts how the environment has played a key role in virtually every social, economic, and political development. Ranging from the colonists' attempts to impose order on the land to the modern efforts to sell the wilderness as a consumer good, packaged in national parks and Alaskan cruises, Steinberg reminds readers that many critical episodes in our history were, in fact, environmental events: the California Gold Rush, for example, or the great migration of African Americans to the North in the early twentieth century (in part the consequence of an insect infestation). Equally important, Steinberg highlights the ways in which we have envisioned nature, attempting to reshape and control it--from Thomas Jefferson's surveying plan that divided the national landscape into a grid, to the transformation of animals, crops, and even water into commodities (New Englanders started trading water rights by the early nineteenth century). From the Pilgrims to Disney World, Steinberg's narrative abounds with fascinating details and often disturbing insights into our interaction with the natural world. Few books truly change the way we see the past. Down to Earth is one of them: a vivid narrative that reveals the environment to be a powerful force in our history--a force that must be examined if we are truly to understand ourselves.

Contents:

Prologue: Rocks and History 2

Part 1 Chaos to Simplicity

1 Wilderness under Fire 11

2 A Truly New World 21

3 Reflections from a Woodlot 39

Part 2 Rationalization and Its Discontents

4 A World of Commodities 55

5 King Climate in Dixie 71

6 The Great Food Fight 89

7 Extracting the New South 99

8 The Unforgiving West 116

9 Conservation Reconsidered 138

10 Death of the Organic City 157

Part 3 Consuming Nature

11 Moveable Feast 175

12 The Secret History of Meat 190

13 America in Black and Green 206

14 Throwaway Society 226

15 Shades of Green 239

16 Planet U.S.A. 262

Conclusion: Disney Takes on the Animal Kingdom 282.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-331) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

ISBN:

0195140095

OCLC:

47989934