Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History |
Buy Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History here, one of 750 American History books offered for sale at discount prices here in the history books section at R bookshop. There are currently 82668 history books in our history books section, and over 1,000,000 books listed in our book store. We greatly appreciate your patronage at R bookshop and look forward to offering you a large selection of great books at discount prices now and in the future. Thank you for shopping at R Bookshop!
|
You Are Here: Home > History Books > American History > Item 165
 |
Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History
|
by Ted Steinberg
Sales Rank: 204513
|
List Price: $39.95
$35.96
At Amazon
on 6-23-2008.
|
|
|
|
Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 368 pages
Published by: Oxford University Press, USA October 11, 2002
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0195140109
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0195140101
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 1 inches
Weighs: 1.1 pounds
Product Review
"This book will try to change the way you think about American history," writes Ted Steinberg in the opening line of Down to Earth. That's an ambitious claim, but not far off the mark. His fascinating book is essentially an environmental history of the United States, with the author paying particular attention to how elements of nature became commodities and thereby isolated Americans from the natural world. Readers don't have to subscribe to this neo-Marxist concept in order to appreciate Steinberg's observations about everything from the old-time urban problem of horse excrement ("the nineteenth-century equivalent of auto pollution") to the massive amounts of garbage produced by fast-food chains (McDonald's, he says, requires "an area equivalent in size to more than 450,000 football fields" to supply its paper needs). He also tells what may be the first-ever natural history of the Civil War. This may sound idiosyncratic, and to some extent it is, yet Steinberg weaves it all together and makes the underappreciated point that "it is quite simply wrong to view the natural world as an unchanging backdrop to the past." It changes all the time, he writes, and it has shaped Americans in ways that few of them understand. --John Miller
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Steinberg, an environmental historian at Case Western Reserve University, looks at the dynamic interactions between America's economic, political and cultural institutions and its geography, plants, animals and natural resources. He presents two predominant themes. The first is that the ecological balance is precarious and can be undermined, even completely destroyed, by unintended changes that flow from the smallest of events. The second is that the capitalist impulse to treat everything within its horizon as a commodity, and the corollary compulsion to assign a dollar value to every commodity, is fundamentally at odds with the existence of the diverse and healthy ecosystems that existed prior to the country's settlement. Steinberg makes a strong case, choosing examples that range from the environmental changes that followed the mysterious extinction of the carrier pigeon to the ecological effects of the mundane garbage disposals, lawns, highways, pesticides and even the salt spread on roads to melt snow to demonstrate his points. He is a historian with strong opinions, and in later chapters political commentary is increasingly prominent. Much of his commentary will offend conservative readers, who will disagree with Steinberg's harsh attacks on American business. For example, he chides the meatpacking industry for "corporate slaughterhouses [that] dehumanized workers" and the biotechnology industry because "feeding the malnourished has never been the driving force behind [it]. Profits, more than people, motivated this bold new science." Interestingly, he is also critical of mainstream environmental groups, who he believes have been coopted by contributions from corporations. Steinberg (Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America) is provocative, backing up his opinions with facts and well-honed arguments, and it will be hard to ignore his major theses. The writing is professional although occasionally stilted. 65 b&w photos, 5 maps not seen by PW.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History (Hardcover)
DOWN TO EARTH: NATURE'S ROLE IN AMERICAN HISTORY by Ted Steinberg is an interesting book, particularly the first half which is a well-researched environmentally based history of the United States. The tenor of the book in these early chapters was very objective and gave a holistic sense of the many factors (natural, political and otherwise) that led to the development of our nation. I must admit however that I was disappointed with the last few chapters of the book as it quickly declined (in my opinion) into a stereotypical environmentalist diatribe on the evils of American capitalism. The meat-packing, automotive (read "SUV's"), and biotechnology industries (along with the United States as a global dominant) are the waxed-mustachioed villains in the global environmental drama and, if only we would return to some pristine form of existence, then all would be OK. We have a responsibility of stewardship toward the earth's resources, however, global ecology and human health, safety AND PROSPERITY are not mutually exclusive items. Economic development within an integrative ecological context can be very profitable indeed, however it requires a shift away from the often adversarial posturing and categorization of positions into the camps of stereotypical tree-huggers as well as self-styled imperial despoilers. What is needed is a more balanced approach where humanity is recognized as part of nature, not as an alien component to be thwarted. Given the first part of the book, I had hoped that there would be new ideas and approaches rather than predictable rhetoric.
Comment | |
(Report this)
Back To Top
|
Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History
Available from Amazon
Price: $35.96
Updated on 6-23-2008.
|
NOTICE: All prices, availability, and specifications
are subject to verification by their respective retailers.
| We offer Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History and other related American History Books here at Rbookshop.com. To view more books about American History please use the previous and next buttons near the top of this page.
|
|
Search for books at
