American Environmental History: An IntroductionBy studying the many ways diverse peoples have changed, shaped, and conserved the natural world over time, environmental historians provide insight into humanity's unique relationship with nature and, more importantly, are better able to understand the origins of our current environmental crisis. Beginning with the precolonial land-use practice of Native Americans and concluding with our twenty-first century concerns over our global ecological crisis, American Environmental History addresses contentious issues such as the preservation of the wilderness, the expulsion of native peoples from national parks, and population growth, and considers the formative forces of gender, race, and class. Entries address a range of topics, from the impact of rice cultivation, slavery, and the growth of the automobile suburb to the effects of the Russian sea otter trade, Columbia River salmon fisheries, the environmental justice movement, and globalization. This illustrated reference is an essential companion for students interested in the ongoing transformation of the American landscape and the conflicts over its resources and conservation. It makes rich use of the tools and resources (climatic and geological data, court records, archaeological digs, and the writings of naturalists) that environmental historians rely on to conduct their research. The volume also includes a compendium of significant people, concepts, events, agencies, and legislation, and an extensive bibliography of critical films, books, and Web sites. |
Contents
3 | |
The New England Wilderness Transformed 16001850 | 24 |
Soil Depletion | 50 |
Market Farming | 67 |
The Settlement of the Pacific Coast and | 85 |
Urban Environments 18501960 | 110 |
From City to Suburb | 128 |
The Organismic Approach to Ecology | 181 |
The Environmental Movement | 378 |
The History of Ecology | 382 |
384 | |
Conservation History and Legislation | 386 |
392 | |
400 | |
Mining History | 415 |
Pollution | 419 |
Environmentalism and Globalization 19602005 | 193 |
Films and Videos | 291 |
Electronic Resources | 315 |
Bibliographical Essay | 331 |
Bibliography | 343 |
African Americans and the Environment | 353 |
American Indian Land Use | 356 |
American Indian Religion | 364 |
Asian Americans and the Environment | 368 |
Environmental Philosophy and Landscape Perception | 370 |
Range History | 423 |
426 | |
428 | |
434 | |
Wilderness Preservation | 443 |
Wildlife | 449 |
461 | |
462 | |
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acres African Americans Agriculture Alaska Aldo Leopold American Environmental American West animals areas Audubon began birds buffalo Cambridge Canyon Carolina Carolyn Merchant colonial Congress Conservation cotton created crops culture dams developed Dust Bowl Earth Ecofeminism ecology economic ecosystem England environment Environmental History Environmental Movement European farm farmers federal fish Forest Frederic Clements frontier Gold Hetch historian human industrial irrigation John John Muir labor Landscape living Management Mexico mineral mining Mountains movement Muir National Park Native Americans natural resources nineteenth century North Northwest Oregon Oregon State University organisms Pacific Plains plants pollution population preservation purchase Rachel Carson railroads River settlement settlers Sierra Sierra Club slaves Society soil South Southwest species technologies timber tion tobacco trade transformation tribes U.S. Forest Service United University Press urban Valley Washington waste western wild wilderness wildlife William William Cronon World York Yosemite