The Fire Ant Wars [electronic resource] : Nature, Science and Public Policy in Twentieth-century America

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buhs, Joshua Blu.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fire ants--Control--Environmental aspects--Southern States--History--20th century.

Fire ants--Control--Southern States--History--20th century.

Insecticides--Environmental aspects--Southern States--History--20th century.

Local Subjects:

Fire ants--Control--Environmental aspects--Southern States--History--20th century.

Fire ants--Control--Southern States--History--20th century.

Insecticides--Environmental aspects--Southern States--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (227 p.)

Other Title:

Fire Ant Wars, The

Place of Publication:

Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press, 2010.

Summary:

Sometime in the first half of the twentieth century, a coterie of fire ants came ashore from South American ships docked in Mobile, Alabama. Fanning out across the region, the fire ants invaded the South, damaging crops, harassing game animals, and hindering harvesting methods. Responding to a collective call from southerners to eliminate these invasive pests, the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed a campaign that not only failed to eradicate the fire ants but left a wake of dead wildlife, sickened cattle, and public protest.With political intrigue, environmental tragedy, an

Contents:

Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter One: From South America to the American South, 1900-1950; Chapter Two: Grins a Prohibitive Fracture, 1945-1957; Chapter Three: Fire Ants, from Savage to Invincible, 1957-1972; Chapter Four: The Fire Ant Wars, 1958-1983; Chapter Five: The Practice of Nature, 1978-2000; References; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

ISBN:

0-226-07982-1

OCLC:

688242182