Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth-Century American Life

Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth-Century American Life PDF Author: Brian C. Black
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313024677
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
The nineteenth-century saw a significant transformation in the United States. In one short century, the nation had seen the populating of the Great Plains and West, the decimation of native Indian tribes, the growth of national transportation and communication networks, and the rise of major cities. The century also witnessed the destruction of the nation's forests, battles over land and water, and the ascent of agribusiness. With these changes in resource use patterns and values came a concordant shift in attitudes toward nature. Conservation and preservation emerged as watchwords for the 1900s. The century that started with an attitude of environmental conquest thus ended by embracing conservation and a new environmental awareness.

Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth-Century American Life

Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth-Century American Life PDF Author: Brian C. Black
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313024677
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
The nineteenth-century saw a significant transformation in the United States. In one short century, the nation had seen the populating of the Great Plains and West, the decimation of native Indian tribes, the growth of national transportation and communication networks, and the rise of major cities. The century also witnessed the destruction of the nation's forests, battles over land and water, and the ascent of agribusiness. With these changes in resource use patterns and values came a concordant shift in attitudes toward nature. Conservation and preservation emerged as watchwords for the 1900s. The century that started with an attitude of environmental conquest thus ended by embracing conservation and a new environmental awareness.

Nature and the Environment in Pre-Columbian American Life

Nature and the Environment in Pre-Columbian American Life PDF Author: Stacy S. Kowtko
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313086664
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Prehistoric North Americans lived on, in, and surrounded by nature. As a result, everything they were resulted from this co-existence. From interpersonal relations to supernatural beliefs, from housing size and function to the food they ate and clothing they wore, the life of Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans was intimately intertwined with the environment. What is known about these societies is often sketchy at best, having survived largely through archaeological remains and oral tradition. Scholars have tried to understand Native American history on its own terms, trying to understand who and what they were in reality - a complex, diverse multitude of populations that defined themselves entirely through what they saw, heard, and experienced everyday - their natural environment. This accessible resource provides an excellent introduction for those needing a first step to researching the daily lives of Native Americans in the centuries before the arrival of Europeans.

Nature and the Environment in Twentieth-Century American Life

Nature and the Environment in Twentieth-Century American Life PDF Author: Brian C. Black
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313024669
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Americans during the twentieth-century became more disconnected from the environment and nature than ever before. More Americans lived in cities rather than on farms; they became ever more reliant on technology to interact with the world around them and with each other. Perhaps paradoxically, the twentieth-century also became the period in which environmental issues played an ever-increasing role in politics and public policy. Why is this so? Perhaps because, despite what many people believe, nature and the environment remains central to everyone's daily life. Pollution, environmental degradation, urban sprawl, loss of wildlife and biodiversity - all of these issues directly impact how everyone - even city dwellers - live their lives. Nature and the Environment in Twentieth-Century America addresses a wide variety of the environmental issues that impacted the lives of people of all classes, races, and regions: ; The expansion of the National Park system and the increased desire for leisure time spent in the great outdoors ; The devastation of the Dust Bowl and its impetus toward conservation and a greater understanding of ecology ; Grassroots activism and environmental politics from Rachel Carson to Love Canal ; The impact of globalization and its environmental consequences on the daily lives of Americans Part of the Daily Life through History series, this title joins Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth-Century Americain a new branch of the series-titles specifically looking at how science innovations impacted daily life.

Writing the Environment in Nineteenth-Century American Literature

Writing the Environment in Nineteenth-Century American Literature PDF Author: Steven Petersheim
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498508383
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
The nineteenth-century roots of environmental writing in American literature are often mentioned in passing and sometimes studied piece by piece. Writing the Environment in Nineteenth-Century American Literature: The Ecological Awareness of Early Scribes of Nature brings together numerous explorations of environmentally-aware writing across the genres of nineteenth-century literature. Like Lawrence Buell, the authors of this collection find Thoreau’s writing a touchstone of nineteenth-century environmental writing, particularly focusing on Thoreau’s claim that humans may function as “scribes of nature.” However, these studies of Thoreau’s antecedents, contemporaries, and successors also reveal a range of other writers in the nineteenth century whose literary treatments of nature are often more environmentally attuned than most readers have noticed. The writers whose works are studied in this collection include canonical and forgotten writers, men and women, early nineteenth-century and late nineteenth-century authors, pioneers and conservationists. They drew attention to the conflicted relationships between humans and the American continent, as experienced by Native Americans and European Americans. Taken together, these essays offer a fresh perspective on the roots of environmental literature in nineteenth-century American nonfiction, fiction, and poetry as well as in multi-genre compositions such as the travel writings of Margaret Fuller. Bringing largely forgotten voices such as John Godman alongside canonical voices such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson, the authors whose writings are studied in this collection produced a diverse tapestry of nascent American environmental writing in the nineteenth-century. From early nineteenth-century writers such as poet Philip Freneau and novelist Charles Brockden Brown to later nineteenth-century conservationists such as John James Audubon and John Muir, Scribes of Nature shows the development of an environmental consciousness and a growing conservationist ethos in American literature. Given their often surprisingly healthy respect for the natural environment, these nineteenth-century writers offer us much to consider in an age of environmental crisis. The complexities of the supposed nature/culture divide still work into our lives today as economic and environmental issues are often seen at loggerheads when they ought to be seen as part of the same conversation of what it means to live healthy lives, and to pass on a healthy world to those who follow us in a world where human activity is becoming increasingly threatening to the health of our planet.

Passions for Nature

Passions for Nature PDF Author: Rochelle Johnson
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820332895
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 660

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Book Description
Nineteenth-century Americans celebrated nature through many artistic forms, including natural-history writing, landscape painting, landscape design theory, and transcendental philosophy. Although we tend to associate these movements with the nation’s dawning environmental consciousness, Passions for Nature demonstrates that they instead alienated Americans from the physical environment even as they seemed to draw people to it. Rather than see these expressions of passion for nature as initiating environmental awareness, this study reveals how they contributed to a culture that remains startlingly ignorant of the details of the material world. Using as a touchstone the writings of nineteenth-century philanthropist Susan Fenimore Cooper (the daughter of famed author James Fenimore Cooper), Passions for Nature reveals that while a generalized passion for nature was intense and widespread in her era, cultural attention to the "real" physical world was quite limited. Popular artistic forms represented the natural world through specific metaphors for the American experience, cultivating a national tradition of valuing nature in terms of humanity. Johnson crosses disciplinary boundaries to demonstrate that anthropocentric understandings of the natural world result not only from the growing gulf between science and imagination that C. P. Snow located in the early twentieth century but also--and surprisingly--from cultural productions traditionally viewed as positive engagements with the environment. By uncovering the roots of a cultural alienation from nature, Passions for Nature explains how the United States came to be a nation that simultaneously reveres the natural world and yet remains dangerously distant from it.

Ecological Revolutions

Ecological Revolutions PDF Author: Carolyn Merchant
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807899623
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
With the arrival of European explorers and settlers during the seventeenth century, Native American ways of life and the environment itself underwent radical alterations as human relationships to the land and ways of thinking about nature all changed. This colonial ecological revolution held sway until the nineteenth century, when New England's industrial production brought on a capitalist revolution that again remade the ecology, economy, and conceptions of nature in the region. In Ecological Revolutions, Carolyn Merchant analyzes these two major transformations in the New England environment between 1600 and 1860. In a preface to the second edition, Merchant introduces new ideas about narrating environmental change based on gender and the dialectics of transformation, while the revised epilogue situates New England in the context of twenty-first-century globalization and climate change. Merchant argues that past ways of relating to the land could become an inspiration for renewing resources and achieving sustainability in the future.

Science and Technology in Medieval European Life

Science and Technology in Medieval European Life PDF Author: Jeffrey R. Wigelsworth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313071802
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Despite the popular view of medieval Europe as a Dark Age of intellectual stagnation, scientific and technological achievement thrived during this time. As any vacationer to Europe knows, churches and castles remain lasting testaments to the ingenuity of that period in history. Through carefully chosen examples which are presented in easily accessible thematic chapters, Science and Technology in Medieval European Life demonstrates how these two aspects of human achievement, far from being ivory-tower enterprises, impacted the daily life of people in medieval Europe. These topics will also resonate with modern readers in their own daily lives. This reference work begins with an historical introduction that situates medieval science and technology into its social, intellectual and religious context. Among the varied topics found in the chapters are: armor making, waterwheels and waterpower, chimneys, stained glass, communication technology, ship building, medicine both academic and village, mechanical clocks, calendar creation, and astrology. For those interested in pursuing further research into this area of history, the book concludes with a chronology of events, a suggested list of further reading and a glossary.

Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Africa

Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Africa PDF Author: John Paul Clow Laband Ph.D.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1573566365
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
In most accounts of warfare, civilians suffer cruelties and make sacrifices silently and anonymously. This volume details the dismal impact war has had on the African people over the past five hundred years, from slavery days, the Zulu War, World Wars I and II, to the horrific civil wars following decolonization and the genocide in Rwanda. In most accounts of warfare, civilians suffer cruelties and make sacrifices silently and anonymously. Finally, historians turn their attention to those who are usually caught up in events beyond their control or understanding. This volume details the dismal impact war has had on the African people over the past five hundred years, from slavery days, the Zulu War, World Wars I and II, to the horrific civil wars following decolonization and the genocide in Rwanda. Chapters provide a representative range of civilian experiences during wartime in Africa extending from the late eighteenth century to the present, representing every region of Africa except North Africa. Timelines, glossaries, suggested further readings and maps are included, and the work is fully indexed. The book begins with Paul E. Lovejoy's study of the ubiquitous experience of African slavery which has so profoundly affected the development of the continent and the lives of its people. John Laband then examines the rise of the Zulu kingdom in the early nineteenth century and its subsequent conquest by Britain, thus charting the fate of civilians during the formation of an African kingdom and their experiences during colonial conquest. The Anglo-Boer War is situated at a crucial crossroads between colonial and modern warfare, and the concentration camps the British set up for Boer and African civilians pioneered a new form of modern savagery. Bill Nasson examines this war's complex effects on various categories of non-combatants in South Africa. Because it was under colonial rule, Africa was dragged into the two World Wars. Tim Stapleton shows in the fourth chapter that while the African civilian response to the war of 1914-1918 was often contradictory and ranged from collaboration to revolt, the effect of the conflict was only to confirm colonial rule. In the following chapter, David Killingray explains how and why the impact of the Second World War on African civilians was rather different from that of the First in that it undid colonial rule, and paved the way for the future independence of Africa under modernized African leadership. The Portuguese held on to their African empire long after the other colonial empires had relinquished theirs in the 1960s. Angola, the subject of Chapter six, passed seamlessly out of an independence struggle against Portuguese rule into civil war that soon involved Cold War rivalries and interventions. Inge Brinkman describes the dismal sufferings and displacement of Angolan civilians during four decades of interminable fighting. Liberia and Sierra Leone declined from relative stability and prosperity into horrific civil war, and in Chapter seven Lansana Gberie traces the deadly consequences for civilians and the efforts to stabilize society once peace was tentatively restored. The Sudan has suffered decades of ethnic and religious strife between the government and the people of the southern and western periphery, and in Chapter eight Jane Kani Edward and Amir Idris analyze what this has meant, and still means, for the myriad civilian victims. Chapter nine concludes the book with the most horrific single episode of recent African history: the Rwandan genocide. Alhaji Bah explains its genesis and canvasses the subsequent search for reconciliation. The chapter ends with his discussion of African mechanisms that should - and even might - be put in place to ensure effective peacekeeping in Africa, and so save civilians in future from the swarm of war's horrors.

Nature and the Environment in Twentieth-Century American Life

Nature and the Environment in Twentieth-Century American Life PDF Author: Brian Black
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN: 0313332002
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Americans during the twentieth-century became more disconnected from the environment and nature than ever before. More Americans lived in cities rather than on farms; they became ever more reliant on technology to interact with the world around them and with each other. Perhaps paradoxically, the twentieth-century also became the period in which environmental issues played an ever-increasing role in politics and public policy. Why is this so? Perhaps because, despite what many people believe, nature and the environment remains central to everyone's daily life. Pollution, environmental degradation, urban sprawl, loss of wildlife and biodiversity - all of these issues directly impact how everyone - even city dwellers - live their lives. Nature and the Environment in Twentieth-Century America addresses a wide variety of the environmental issues that impacted the lives of people of all classes, races, and regions: ; The expansion of the National Park system and the increased desire for leisure time spent in the great outdoors ; The devastation of the Dust Bowl and its impetus toward conservation and a greater understanding of ecology ; Grassroots activism and environmental politics from Rachel Carson to Love Canal ; The impact of globalization and its environmental consequences on the daily lives of Americans Part of the Daily Life through History series, this title joins Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth-Century Americain a new branch of the series-titles specifically looking at how science innovations impacted daily life.

Daily Life through World History in Primary Documents [3 volumes]

Daily Life through World History in Primary Documents [3 volumes] PDF Author: Rebecca Bennette
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313084343
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1172

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Book Description
Who did the ancient Greeks describe as the world's best athlete? What does the Koran say about women's rights? How has the digital revolution changed life in the modern age? From the law courts of ancient Iraq to bloody Civil War battlefields, explore the daily lives of people from major world cultures throughout history, as presented in their own words. Bringing useful and engaging material into world history classrooms, this rich collection of historical documents and illustrations provides insight into major cultures from all continents. Hundreds of thematically organized, annotated primary documents, and over 100 images introduce aspects of daily life throughout the world, including domestic life, economics, intellectual life, material life, politics, religion, and recreation, from antiquity to the present. Document selections are guided by the National Standards for World History, providing a direct tie to the curriculum. Analytical introductions explain the key features and background of each document, and create links between documents to illustrate the interrelationship of thoughts and customs across time and cultures. Volume 1: The Ancient World covers the major civilizations from ancient Sumeria (3000 BCE) through the fall of Imperial Rome (476 CE), including Egypt, Greece, and Israel, and also covers China and India during the births of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Volume 2: The Middle Ages and Renaissance covers the development of European culture from the Germanic migrations of the fifth century CE through the university movement of the late middle ages, and the sixteenth-century growth of global empires and the collapse of the kingship in seventeenth-century England. Also covered are the Native empires of the Americas and the rise of Islamic culture throughout the Middle East and Africa. Volume 3: The Modern World spans the period from the Enlightenment through modern Internet era and global economy, including the founding of the United States, colonial and post-colonial life in Latin America and Africa, and the growth of international cultures and new economies in Asia. Document sources include: The code of Hammurabi, The Manu Smrti, Seneca's On Mercy, Josephus's Jewish Antiquities, The Koran, Dante's Divine Comedy, Bernal Diaz del Castillo's The True History of the Conquest of Mexico, The Travels of Marco Polo, Brahmagupta's principles of mathematics and astronomy, The Mayan Popul Vuh, the diary of a Southern plantation wife during the Civil War, and letters from an American soldier in Vietnam Thematically organized sections are supplemented with a glossary of terms, a glossary of names, a timeline of key events, and an annotated bibliography. Document selections are guided by the National Standards for World History, providing a direct tie to the curriculum. This collection is an invaluable source for students of material history, social history, and world history.