A Companion to American Environmental History

694 Pages·2010·2.722 MB·English

by  Douglas Cazaux Sackman

99778811440055115566665533__55__iinnddeexx..iinndddd 667744 11//3300//22001100 1122::5544::3300 PPMM
A Companion to American Environmental History
ffffiirrss..iinndddd ii 22//11//22001100 55::4400::1100 PPMM
BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO AMERICAN HISTORY
This series provides essential and authoritative overviews of the scholarship that has shaped
our present understanding of the American past. Edited by eminent historians, each
volume tackles one of the major periods or themes of American history, with individual
topics authored by key scholars who have spent considerable time in research on the
questions and controversies that have sparked debate in their field of interest. The volumes
are accessible for the non-specialist, while also engaging scholars seeking a reference to the
historiography or future concerns.
Published
A Companion to the American Revolution A Companion to American Foreign Relations
edited by Jack P. Greene and J. R. Pole edited by Robert Schulzinger
A Companion to 19th-Century America A Companion to the Civil War and
edited by William L. Barney Reconstruction, edited by Lacy K. Ford
A Companion to the American South edited A Companion to American Technology,
by John B. Boles edited by Carroll Pursell
A Companion to American Indian History A Companion to African-American History,
edited by Philip J. Deloria and Neal Salisbury edited by Alton Hornsby
A Companion to American Women’s History A Companion to American Immigration,
edited by Nancy Hewitt edited by Reed Ueda
A Companion to Post-1945 America edited by A Companion to American Cultural History,
Jean-Christophe Agnew and Roy Rosenzweig edited by Karen Halttunen
A Companion to the Vietnam War edited by A Companion to California History, edited
Marilyn Young and Robert Buzzanco by William Deverell and David Igler
A Companion to Colonial America edited by A Companion to American Military History,
Daniel Vickers edited by James Bradford
A Companion to 20th-Century America A Companion Los Angeles, edited by William
edited by Stephen J. Whitfield Deverell and Greg Hise
A Companion to the American West edited A Companion to American Environmental
by William Deverell History, edited by Douglas Sackman
In preparation
A Companion to American Urban History, A Companion to the History of American
edited by David Quigley Science, edited by Mark Largent
ffffiirrss..iinndddd iiii 22//11//22001100 55::4400::1100 PPMM
A COMPANION TO
AMERICAN
ENVIRONMENTAL
HISTORY
Edited by
Douglas Cazaux Sackman
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
ffffiirrss..iinndddd iiiiii 22//11//22001100 55::4400::1100 PPMM
This edition fi rst published 2010
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing
program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientifi c, Technical, and Medical business to form
Wiley-Blackwell.
Registered Offi ce
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United
Kingdom
Editorial Offi ces
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK
The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
For details of our global editorial offi ces, for customer services, and for information about how to
apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.
com/wiley-blackwell.
The right of Douglas Cazaux Sackman to be identifi ed as the author of the editorial material in this
work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or oth-
erwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print
may not be available in electronic books.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All
brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or
vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative
information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher
is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is
required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A companion to American environmental history / edited by Douglas Cazaux Sackman.
p. cm. – (Blackwell companions to American history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4051-5665-3 (hardcover: alk. paper)
1. Environmentalism–United States–History. 2. Environmental policy–United States–H istory.
3. Green movement–United States–History. I. Sackman, Douglas Cazaux, 1968–
GE195.C655 2010
333.720973–dc22
2009043696
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Set in 11/13pt Galliard by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Singapore
01 2010
ffffiirrss..iinndddd iivv 22//11//22001100 55::4400::1111 PPMM
Contents
Notes on Contributors viii
Introduction xiii
Part I The Elements of Environmental History 1
1 Paths Toward Home: Landmarks of the Field in
Environmental History 3
Louis S. Warren
2 Air 33
Nancy Langston
3 The Living Earth: History, Darwinian Evolution,
and the Grasslands 51
Donald Worster
4 Fire 69
Stephen J. Pyne
5 Water 92
Rebecca Solnit
Part II Nature and the Construction of Society and Identity 97
6 Race and US Environmental History 99
Colin Fisher
7 Gender 116
Susan R. Schrepfer and Douglas Cazaux Sackman
8 Class 146
Chad Montrie
ffttoocc..iinndddd vv 22//11//22001100 55::4400::2244 PPMM
vi CONTENTS
9 Body Counts: Tracking the Human Body Through
Environmental History 163
Neil M. Maher
Part III The Nature of American Culture 181
10 From Wilderness to Hybrid Landscapes: The Cultural
Turn in Environmental History 183
Richard White
11 American Indian Environmental Relations 191
David Rich Lewis
12 Cultures of Nature: To ca. 1810 214
Matthew Dennis
13 Cultures of Nature: Nineteenth Century 246
Aaron Sachs
14 Cultures of Nature: Twentieth Century 266
Finis Dunaway
15 From Wilderness Prophets to Tool Freaks: Post-World War II
Environmentalism 285
Andrew Kirk
16 The Black Box in the Garden: Consumers and the Environment 304
Tom McCarthy
Part IV Contact Zones: Americans Conjoining
the Natural World 325
17 Flora 327
Frieda Knobloch
18 Fauna: A Prospectus for Evolutionary History 345
Edmund Russell
19 Water Development: The Plot Thickens 375
Patty Limerick
20 Rich Crevices of Inquiry: Mining and Environmental History 394
Katherine G. Morrissey
21 Who Cares About Forests? How Forest History Matters 410
Ellen Stroud
22 Cultivating an Agro-Environmental History 425
Sara M. Gregg
23 Oceans: Fusing the History of Science and Technology
with Environmental History 442
Helen M. Rozwadowski
ffttoocc..iinndddd vvii 22//11//22001100 55::4400::2244 PPMM
CONTENTS vii
24 Cities and Suburbs 462
Chris Sellers
25 Energy and Transportation 482
Brian Black
26 The Global Ecological Reach of the United States:
Exporting Capital and Importing Commodities 505
Richard P. Tucker
27 Food 529
Douglas Cazaux Sackman
Part V Outside of the Grid: Place, Borders, and Scale 551
28 Blinded by History: The Geographic Dimension
of Environment and Society 553
Richard Walker and Sarah Thomas
29 The Northeastern Pacifi c Basin: An Environmental
Approach to Seascapes and Littoral Places 579
David Igler
30 Earthlings: Evolution and Place in Environmental History 595
Dan Flores
31 “Most Fruitful Results”: Transborder Approaches
to Canadian-American Environmental History 615
Ted Binnema
32 Seeing Beyond Our Borders: US and Non-US Historiographies 635
Paul Sutter
Index 653
ffttoocc..iinndddd vviiii 22//11//22001100 55::4400::2244 PPMM
Notes on Contributors
Ted Binnema, a Professor of History Matthew Dennis, Professor of History
at the University of Northern British and Environmental Studies at the Uni-
Columbia, teaches several courses that versity of Oregon, is the author of Cul-
encourage students to employ trans- tivating a Landscape of Peace: Iroquois-
border approaches to better understand European Encounters in 17th-Century
the past. Much of his research has also America (1993); Red, White, and Blue
employed transborder approaches to Letter Days: An American Calendar
the history of the environment and of (2002); Riot and Revelry in Early Amer-
indigenous peoples. His publications ica (2002; co-editor); Encyclopedia of
include Common and Contested Ground Holidays and Celebrations, 3 vols. (2006;
(2001), and articles in Environmental general editor); and most recently, Seneca
History, Western Historical Quarterly, Possessed: Indians, Witchcraft, and Power
Journal of the Early R epublic, and Ca- in the Early American Republic (2010).
nadian Historical Review. He is currently writing a cultural and po-
litical history of death, mortal remains,
Brian Black is Professor of History and and public memory in America.
Environmental Studies at Penn State
Finis Dunaway is Associate Professor
Altoona, where he also co-coordinates
of History at Trent University, where he
Penn State’s program in environmental
teaches courses in modern United States
studies. His research emphasis is on the
history, visual culture, and environmen-
landscape and environmental history of
tal studies. He is the author of Natural
North America, particularly in relation
Visions: The Power of Images in Ameri-
to the application and use of energy and
can Environmental Reform (2005) and
technology. He is the author of several
of articles in American Quarterly, Envi-
books, including the award-winning
ronmental History, Raritan, and other
Petrolia: The Landscape of America’s
journals. He is currently writing a book
First Oil Boom (2003) and the forth-
about visual culture and the environ-
coming Contesting Gettysburg: Preserv-
mental crisis.
ing a Cherished American Landscape.
He is currently at work on a cultural Colin Fisher is an Associate Profes-
history of petroleum in the US. sor of History at the University of San
99778811440055115566665533__33__ppoossttttoocc..iinndddd vviiiiii 11//3300//22001100 77::2222::2244 AAMM