An Everglades providence : Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American environmental century / Jack E. Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Jack E., 1956-

Series:

Environmental history and the American South.

Environmental history and the American South

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Conservationists--Florida--Biography.

Conservationists.

Feminists--United States--Biography.

Feminists.

Authors, American--20th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

Nature conservation--Florida--Everglades--History.

Nature conservation.

Environmental degradation--Florida--History.

Environmental degradation.

Wetland conservation--Florida--History.

Wetland conservation.

Environmental policy--Florida--History--20th century.

Environmental policy.

Environmental policy--United States--History--20th century.

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman.

Physical Description:

xxv, 758 p., [26] of plates : ill., maps, ports.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Athens : University of Georgia Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

No one did more than Marjory Stoneman Douglas to transform the Everglades from the country's most maligned swamp into its most beloved wetland. By the late twentieth century, her name and her classic The Everglades: River of Grass had become synonymous with Everglades protection. The crusading resolve and boundless energy of this implacable elder won the hearts of an admiring public while confounding her opponents—growth merchants intent on having their way with the Everglades. Douglas's efforts ultimately earned her a place among a mere handful of individuals honored as a namesake of a national wilderness area. In the first comprehensive biography of Douglas, Jack E. Davis explores the 108-year life of this compelling woman. Douglas was more than an environmental activist. She was a suffragist, a lifetime feminist and supporter of the ERA, a champion of social justice, and an author of diverse literary talent. She came of age literally and professionally during the American environmental century, the century in which Americans mobilized an unprecedented popular movement to counter the equally unprecedented liberties they had taken in exploiting, polluting, and destroying the natural world. The Everglades were a living barometer of America's often tentative shift toward greater environmental responsibility. Reconstructing this larger picture, Davis recounts the shifts in Douglas's own life and her instrumental role in four important developments that contributed to Everglades protection: the making of a positive wetland image, the creation of a national park, the expanding influence of ecological science, and the rise of the modern environmental movement. In the grand but beleaguered Everglades, which Douglas came to understand is a vast natural system that supports human life, she saw nature's providence.

Contents:

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Foreword

Author's Note and Acknowledgments

Part One

1 Journey's End

2 River of Life

3 Lineage

4 Mr. Smith's "Reconnoissance"

5 Birth and Despair

6 Suicide

7 Growing Up

8 Frank's Journey

9 The Sovereign

10 Wellesley

11 Reports

12 Marriage

13 By Violence

14 Killing Mr. Bradley

Part Two

15 A New Life

16 Conservationists

17 Rights

18 World War

19 Land Booms

20 The Galley Slave

21 Hurricanes

22 Stories

23 The Proposal

24 The Book Idea

25 The Park Idea

26 Dedications

Part Three

27 An Unnecessary Drought

28 Perishing and Publishing

29 Grassroots

30 The Jetport

31 The Conversion

32 Regionalism and Environmentalism

33 The Kissimmee

34 Grande Dame

35 Justice and Equality

36 The Gathering Twilight

Epilogue: "Without Me"

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [607]-731) and index.

ISBN:

9780820337791

082033779X

9780820346236

0820346233

OCLC:

856934846