Arcadian America : the death and life of an environmental tradition / Aaron Sachs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sachs, Aaron (Aaron Jacob)

Series:

New directions in narrative history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cemeteries--United States--History--19th century.

Cemeteries.

Cemeteries--Social aspects--United States.

Cemeteries--Environmental aspects--United States.

Arcadia in literature.

Arcadia in art.

Environmentalism--Social aspects--United States.

Environmentalism.

Environmental responsibility--United States.

Environmental responsibility.

Environmentalism--Social aspects.

Cemeteries--Environmental aspects.

Social aspects.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

xi, 484 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2013]

Summary:

"Perhaps America's best environmental idea was not the national park but the garden cemetery, a use of space that quickly gained popularity in the mid-nineteenth century. Such spaces of repose brought key elements of the countryside into rapidly expanding cities, making nature accessible to all and serving to remind visitors of the natural cycles of life. In this unique interdisciplinary blend of historical narrative, cultural criticism, and poignant memoir, Aaron Sachs argues that American cemeteries embody a forgotten landscape tradition that has much to teach us in our current moment of environmental crisis.Until the trauma of the Civil War, many Americans sought to shape society into what they thought of as an Arcadia--not an Eden where fruit simply fell off the tree, but a public garden that depended on an ethic of communal care, and whose sense of beauty and repose related directly to an acknowledgement of mortality and limitation. Sachs explores the notion of Arcadia in the works of nineteenth-century nature writers, novelists, painters, horticulturists, landscape architects, and city planners, and holds up for comparison the twenty-first century's--and his own--tendency toward denial of both death and environmental limits. His far-reaching insights suggest new possibilities for the environmental movement today and new ways of understanding American history"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Common Shade: Cultivating a Place for Death 19

2 The Middle Landscapes of New England Culture 62

3 Sleepy Hollow: A Young Nation in Repose 96

4 Stumps 137

5 Three Men of the Middle Border (Part One): Twilight 210

6 Three Men of the Middle Border (Part Two): American Homelessness 252

7 Atlantis: Arcadia and Armageddon 300.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780300176407

0300176406

OCLC:

785874513