By 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
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I: Historical Overview—Topics and Themes
- 1. The American Environment and Native- European Encounters, 1000–1875
- The Physical Environment and Natural Resources
- Native Americans and the Land
- Pueblo Indians and the Southwest
- The Pueblo Indians and Spanish Settlement of the Southwest
- Micmac Indians and French Settlement in the Northeast
- Plains Indians and the Westward Movement
- The European Transformation of the Plains
- The Ecological Indian
- Conclusion
- 2. The New England Wilderness Transformed, 1600–1850
- The New England Forest and Indian Land Use
- The Settlement of New England
- Colonial Land Use
- Marketing the Forest
- The Forest Economy
- Mind, Labor, and Nature
- The Idea of Wilderness
- Conclusion
- 3. The Tobacco and Cotton South, 1600–1900
- The Chesapeake Environment and Indian-European Relations
- Tobacco Cultivation
- Slavery and Southern Agriculture
- Rice and Slaves in the Low Country
- Black Indians
- Soil Depletion
- The Cotton South
- Environment and Society in the Cotton South
- Cotton Production
- Post–Civil War Sharecropping
- The Impact of the Boll Weevil
- Conclusion
- 4. Nature and the Market Economy, 1750–1850
- The Inland Economy and the Environment
- Land Use in the Inland Economy
- The Inland Economy and the Worldview of Its People
- Market Farming
- The Transportation and Market Revolutions
- Nature and Ambivalence About the Market Economy
- African Americans and Wilderness
- The Hudson River School of Paint ers
- Artists and the Vanishing Indian
- Conclusion
- 5. Western Frontiers: The Settlement of the Pacific Coast and the Great Plains, 1820–1930
- Westward Expansion of the United States
- California Native Peoples and the Advent of Europeans
- The Russian Frontier in North America
- California and the Gold Rush
- Types of Gold Mining
- Environmental Effects of Hydraulic Mining
- Environmental Change in the Sierras
- Salmon Extraction in the Pacific Northwest
- European Settlement of the Great Plains
- The Rancher’s Frontier
- The Farmer’s Frontier
- Narratives of Blacks and Women
- The Dust Bowl of the 1930s
- Conclusion
- 6. Urban Environments, 1850–1960
- Urbanization
- Industry and Energy
- Industrial Cities and Labor
- The City as Wilderness
- Air Pollution
- Garbage
- Noise Pollution
- Water Pollution
- The Sanitary City
- From City to Suburb
- Minorities and Pollution
- Conclusion
- 7. Conservation and Preservation, 1785–1950
- Colonial Land Policy
- Federal Land Policy
- Land Law in the Arid West
- Lands for Railroads and Education
- The Conservation Movement
- Reclamation and Water Law
- The Preservation Movement
- Creation of the National Parks
- New Deal Conservation
- Conclusion
- 8. Indian Land Policy, 1800–1990
- Indian Land Treaties
- Indian Removal
- The Dawes Act
- Indians and the Creation of the National Parks
- Indian Removal from Yosemite and Yellowstone
- Legal Maneuvers in Glacier and Mesa Verde
- The Winters Decision
- The Indian New Deal and Civil Rights
- Indian Lands and Environmental Regulation
- Conclusion
- 9. The Rise of Ecology, 1890–1990
- Ernst Haeckel and the Origins of Ecology
- Human Ecology
- The Organismic Approach to Ecology
- The Economic Approach to Ecology
- The Influence of Chaos Theory
- Conclusion
- 10. Environmentalism and Globalization, 1960–2005
- From Conservation to Environmentalism
- The Rise of Environmentalism
- Population and the Environment
- Environmental Regulation
- Reactions to Environmental Regulation
- Environmental Organizations
- The Environmental Justice Movement
- The Transformation of Consciousness
- Globalization
- Conclusion
- Part II: American Environmental History A to Z—Agencies, Concepts, Laws, and People
- Part III: Chronology—An Environmental History Timeline
- Part IV: Resource Guide
- Visual Resources: Films and Videos
- Electronic Resources
- 1. General Environmental History Resources
- 2. Environmental History Societies and Related Associations
- 3. Archival Materials
- 4. Bibliographies
- 5. Biographical Resources
- 6. Environmental Organizations and Information Centers
- 7. Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
- 8. Government Agencies
- 9. Natural History
- 10. Natural Resources
- 11. Regional Resources
- 12. Environmental Justice Resources
- 13. Teaching Resources
- 14. Course Syllabi in American Environmental History
- 15. General Environmental Education
- 16. Historical Overview Web Sites
- Bibliographical Essay
- Bibliography
- 1. What Is Environmental History?
- 2. Anthologies and Bibliographies
- 3. Biographies and Autobiographical Writings
- 4. African Americans and the Environment
- 5. American Indian Land Use
- 6. American Indian Religion
- 7. Asian Americans and the Environment
- 8. Environmental Philosophy and Landscape Perception
- 9. The Environmental Movement
- 10. The History of Ecology
- 11. The History of Environmental Science
- 12. Conservation History and Legislation
- 13. Agricultural History
- 14. Forest History
- 15. Mining History
- 16. Pollution
- 17. Range History
- 18. Religion and Environment
- 19. Urban Environments
- 20. Water and Irrigation History
- 21. Wilderness Preservation
- 22. Wildlife
- 23. Women and Environment
- Index
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