Carolyn Merchant 
American Environmental History [EPUB ebook] 
An Introduction

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.

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List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Historical Overview-Topics and Themes
1. The American Environment and Native-European Encounters, 1000-1875
2. The New England Wilderness Transformed, 1600-1850
3. The Tobacco and Cotton South, 1600-1900
4. Nature and the Market Economy, 1750-1850
5. Western Frontiers: The Settlement of the Pacific Coast and the Great Plains, 1820-1930
6. Urban Environments, 1850-1960
7. Conservation and Preservation, 1785-1950
8. Indian Land Policy, 1800-1990
9. The Rise of Ecology, 1890-1990
10. Environmentalism and Globalization, 1960-2005
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
Bibliographical Essay
Bibliography
Index

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Carolyn Merchant is the Chancellor’s Professor of Environmental History, Philosophy, and Ethics at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of several books, including
Reinventing Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture and
The Death of Nature, and is a past president of the American Society for Environmental History.