Birth and reared in different environments, such as those discussed in the Down-to-Earth Sociology box on the next page. Another way is to examine children who have had little human contact. Let’s consider such children. Feral Children The naked child was found in the forest, walking on all fours, eating grass and lapping water from the river.
In this ambitious and provocative text, environmental historian Ted Steinberg offers a sweeping history of the United States--a history that places the environment at the very center of the narrative. Now in a new edition, Down to Earth reenvisions the story of America 'from the ground up.' It reveals how focusing on plants, animals, climate, and other ecological factors can radically change the way that we think about the past. • Ted Steinberg, Down To Earth, Chapter 9. • Jennifer Price, Flight Maps, Chapter 2 (“When Women Were Women, Men Were Men, and Birds Were Hats”). 17: Wilderness Preservation: Promise and Perils • The Wilderness Act of 1964 • Ted Steinberg, Down to Earth, excerpt from Chapter 15, pp. 242-247 (“Saving the Wild Kingdom.”. Steinberg Cubase 5 Manual Pdf Steinberg Cubase 5. Down to Earth: Nature's Role in. Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History by Ted Steinberg. Down to Earth Author: Ted Steinberg. Utne Reader OnlineBlaming Nature. It S Down To Earth PDF Document Norby down to. Down To Earth Natures Role In American.
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In this ambitious and provocative text, environmental historian Ted Steinberg offers a sweeping history of our nation--a history that, for the first time, places the environment at the very center of our story. Written with exceptional clarity, Down to Earth re-envisions the story of America 'from the ground up.' It reveals how focusing on plants, animals, climate, and oth...more
Published October 17th 2002 by Oxford University Press, USA
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I read this book for my History of the Environment course, and I truly enjoyed it. It is accessible and easy to read, it is well-researched and, most importantly, it's interesting! This book was eye-opening and definitely worth the read!
Oct 04, 2014Ann Kauth rated it it was amazing
I cannot recommend this book enough. I have never considered the role of nature in the history of the US before, probably because it was never part of any history course. This is a must-read. It will change the way you think about our history, about the way that 'privatization' and economic interest has impacted nearly every aspect of the way we live, the ideas about the conservation movement, etc., etc. It takes a while to get through the book but be patient and keep reading. IMHO, every high s...more
Jan 31, 2013Avolyn Fisher rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This book has changed the way that I see the environment for the rest of my life. I realize such a claim is bold and dramatic but it is entirely true. I read this book for a college course that I took this semester and I did not expect to enjoy it since it was required reading. I am a Finance and Marketing major, I don't come from a history, science, or environment background. Nevertheless I enjoyed this book from its very beginning to its end. Even the parts of history that I thought I understo...more
May 21, 2015Kelly rated it liked it · review of another edition
I'd like to start out by saying that this isn't usually the type of book I read. This book was required for my American Environmental History class. With that said, I truly enjoyed this book. It took all of the information it wanted to convey and turned it into stories that were easy to read and humorous at times. I am not ashamed to say that this was the only textbook I read all semester. Steinberg really draws focus to environmental problems in the U.S., not only in the past, but problem that...more
Jul 12, 2018Andrew Pemberton rated it really liked it
Ted Steinberg, Down to Earth: Nature’s Role in American History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).
With more and more environmental historians emerging, it was high-time for a comprehensive history of the United States that explores the role of the environment in shaping the history of this nation. Ted Steinberg’s Down to Earth does just that. Down to Earth chronologically explores the indefatigable role that nature has played in the formation of the United States from the earliest times...more
Jan 17, 2018Rob Bauer rated it really liked it
I use this book when I teach courses in environmental history at the community college where I teach. I like it quite a bit--especially the last couple chapters discussing corporations & globalization in modern US history. Another great feature of the book is its focus on viewing the environment through the lens of commodification, and how doing so alienates people from understanding nature and natural processes.
Another strength is that the book has nice geographic balance. My specialty is...more
Jan 26, 2019Casey Schreiner rated it really liked it
So it's a textbook. Each chapter sets up a thesis and ends with a conclusion that wraps everything up.
But as far as textbooks go, this one is pretty interesting. I will say, the first half of the book is a bit more engaging, just because it's using an ecological perspective on a time period that usually doesn't get that treatment. By the time we get to the westward expansion days -- and especially into the post-WW2 era -- if you're the kind of person who's interested in reading a book like this...more
Dec 25, 2017William Winn JR rated it it was amazing
Excellent. By taking chapters to focus on common areas of American history Steinberg has written a book that can be effectively utilized in general history classes over the course of the examination of the length and breadth of the study of United States and how the land played a vital, yet previously unmentioned, role in the shaping of all things American.
Ted Steinberg writes a compelling narrative about how humanity has shaped the environment of the Americas for better or worse. He leaves no stone unturned while exploring deforestation, the development of the modern waste management system, and early environmental activism and legislation. This was, hands down, my favorite non-fiction book read this year.
Jan 02, 2017Joseph Montuori rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Steinberg's work is sweeping in its scope, from pre-Columbian North America to the early 21st century, ever focused on the history of man's interaction with nature in the geographic area that makes up the United States. This unusual, but extremely relevant approach is generally used to add to the traditional view of anthropocentric history, rather than focusing purely on nature, or even nature as the central factor in human history in the United States. That is a strength for traditional histori...more
May 07, 2013Kate rated it liked it
Steinberg takes us on a whirlwind tour of American history, focusing on the environmental factors that affected and influenced the key transitions and developments of America. The drought and wet seasons that prompted the move West, the mud and failed crops that forced Lee's hand during the Civil War, the sanitation efforts of early 20th cities.
Overall, this was a very interesting reinterpretation of American history. The earlier sections were actually the most interesting, showing how much en...more
Feb 15, 2010Eliza rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This book followed American history under the premise that everything that happened in the history of our country was intricately linked to our environment and happened because of the natural resources that we've been able to extract & utilize, especially in regards to energy. Unlike other countries with less natural wealth, the U.S. is very lucky to have the Great Plains as our breadbasket, our original forests as our early source of fuel, our rivers to dam for hydroelectric, and the vast r...more
Feb 13, 2013Patrick rated it really liked it · review of another edition
This narrative textbook history of U.S. environmental history is a comprehensive summary and introduction to the field. It is immensely fascinating at times and holds nothing back in describing how the United States has become what it is today ecologically, agriculturally, and industrially. Tracing the United States' history all the way back to North America's geological formation and development billions of years ago up to the present day, it's an all-encompassing book that leaves no part of th...more
Steinberg's goal for this book is to 'bring natural forces to the fore of the historical process (p. 284).' I found his alternate approach to the history of North America as the ongoing interaction of human culture and the natural environment as compelling as it is sobering. Although I found the book both well-researched and engagingly written, in such a geographically and chronologically wide-ranging survey depth must of necessity occasionally yield to breadth. The author compensates through fo...more
Sep 01, 2010Lauriann rated it really liked it
With more education comes more responsibility. By the end of this book I am vowing never to turn on another light or drive another mile in my car. This book was a fascinating look at how the environment impacted the early settlers in the US to how much we have impacted the environment since the 1950's. The early history of the book was relatively new information for me. The recent info didn't break any new ground for me, but is still alarming. Steinberg does issue a call for manure. Manure seems...more
Good survey of U.S. Environmental History [2013 edition]: accessible to general and undergraduate readers. Fairly comprehensive, though missing a treatments of the early 1800s transportation revolution, the transition from an iron industry to a steel industry, the Dust Bowl, and the Donora, PA incident and the movement for smog abatement. Satisfactory treatment of differences between the environmental movement and the ecology movement, including Rachel Carson's part in the differences. Okay on c...more
Steinberg writes of the U.S.'s checkered environmental past, covering colonial days and the early years of the industrial revolution when pigs (and horses) ruled city streets and night soil was collected and sent to farms through its later years with rivers catching on fire, the blossoming of monoculture farming and the burdens of agribusiness to today's various green movements. A very helpful overview for those wanting a distinctly US glimpse of some of the intricacies behind the current ecolog...more
Feb 05, 2017kendall rated it really liked it · review of another edition
A must read for anyone interested in American history and environmentalism.
Jun 01, 2006Annette rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: nature, history, nonfiction, american, environment, ecology, natural
One of a small group of environmental historians, the author provides fascinating details and insights into U.S. History through the viewpoint of environmental episodes. Learn how natural conditions and mankind's impact have interacted and affected American life. Learn more from a review by E. Voves, 'Informing the Debate' http://www.januarymagazine.com/artcul... in January Magazine. (lj)
I read this after Guns, Germs and Steel and it was a great follow-up because during the former I kept trying to relate it to my homeland. It was an absolutely fascinating lesson on the impact of the environment and climate on American history. It was also a very easy read - far easier than Guns! If you like history, anthropology, or conservation - this is perfect... a great blend of all 3.
Jul 12, 2007Brandie marked it as to-read
Fascinating--explores the environmental reasons behind almost every event in American history. While some of this may be mentioned as part of the background picture in any history class, this book shows climate--both difference (from England) and change--to be more of a motivating force that most people realize.
Jul 16, 2012Jessica rated it really liked it
Shelves: contemporary-american-history, environmental-history, early-american-history, conservation-history
The first half of the book is rather generic, but Steinberg shines once he reaches the 20th century where he includes many environmental considerations that are often overlooked in undergrad history classes, making it a good (though liberally biased) textbook selection.
Thought-provoking survey of the sometimes disastrous results when Americans reshaped their environment in their image. I craved a little more depth; each topic discussed by Steinberg could be expanded into its own book.
How the American (and global) landscape has changed over the centuries due to 'progress.' Not a blame book, just how it is. Makes one stop and think...
This book is a great survey of American environmental history from 'natures' perspective.
Dec 16, 2015Allysa Ivey rated it it was ok · review of another edition
Jun 22, 2011Conan rated it it was amazing
An exercise in Aha! moments. This book examines how the landscape influenced major events/trends throughout our country's history.
I am still interested in environmental history, though I have shifted to more of a straight science passion. This book had a lot of great information and it provided good context.
If you've ever been curious as to what the natural and historical impact of millions of pounds of McDonald's hamburger wrappers has had on America, then read this book. Seriously.
A very staggering book to read that gives an entirely new perspective on some of North American history. Written in very clear language and an easy to follow format, it was tough to ever put it down!
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Download Book Down To Earth Nature S Role In American History in PDF format. You can Read Online Down To Earth Nature S Role In American History here in PDF, EPUB, Mobi or Docx formats.
Down To EarthAuthor :Ted SteinbergISBN :9780198032106 Genre :History File Size : 32.30 MB Format :PDF Download :666 Read :757 In this ambitious and provocative text, environmental historian Ted Steinberg offers a sweeping history of our nation--a history that, for the first time, places the environment at the very center of our story. Written with exceptional clarity, Down to Earth re-envisions the story of America 'from the ground up.' It reveals how focusing on plants, animals, climate, and other ecological factors can radically change the way that we think about the past. Examining such familiar topics as colonization, the industrial revolution, slavery, the Civil War, and the emergence of modern-day consumer culture, Steinberg recounts how the natural world influenced the course of human history. From the colonists' attempts to impose order on the land to modern efforts to sell the wilderness as a consumer good, the author reminds readers that many critical episodes in our history were, in fact, environmental events. He highlights the ways in which we have attempted to reshape and control nature, from Thomas Jefferson's surveying plan, which divided the national landscape into a grid, to the transformation of animals, crops, and even water into commodities. The text is ideal for courses in environmental history, environmental studies, urban studies, economic history, and American history. Passionately argued and thought-provoking, Down to Earth retells our nation's history with nature in the foreground--a perspective that will challenge our view of everything from Jamestown to Disney World. Down To EarthAuthor :Theodore SteinbergISBN :0195140109 Genre :History File Size : 55.27 MB Format :PDF, Mobi Download :265 Read :555 Down to earth offers a sweeping history of our nation, one that places the environment at the very center of our story. Ted Steinberg sweeps across the centuries, re-envisioning the story of America as he recounts how the environment has played a key role in virtually every social, economic, and political development. Ranging from the colonists' attempts to impose order on the land to the modern efforts to sell the wilderness as a consumer good, packaged in national parks and Alaskan cruises, Steinberg reminds readers that many critical episodes in our history were, in fact, environmental events: the California Gold Rush, for example, or the great migration of African Americans to the North in the early twentieth century (in part the consequence of an insect infestation). Equally important, Steinberg highlights the ways in which we have envisioned nature, attempting to reshape and control it--from Thomas Jefferson's surveying plan that divided the national landscape into a grid, to the transformation of animals, crops, and even water into commodities (New Englanders started trading water rights by the early nineteenth century). From the Pilgrims to Disney World, Steinberg's narrative abounds with fascinating details and often disturbing insights into our interaction with the natural world. Beastly NaturesAuthor :Dorothee BrantzISBN :9780813929477 Genre :History File Size : 73.79 MB Format :PDF Download :846 Read :707 'This new collection is a thoughtful menagerie. The essays collected here offer a fresh way of looking at animals in their context, and give us a whole new way of doing natural history. The boundaries between humans and animals are provocatively redrawn.'---Stephen T. Asma, Columbia College, author of Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums Although the animal may be, as Nietzsche argued, ahistorical, living completely in the present, it nonetheless plays a crucial role in human history. The fascination with animals that leads not only to a desire to observe and even live alongside them, but to capture or kill them, is found in all civilizations. The essays collected in Beastly Natures show how animals have been brought into human culture, literally helping to build our societies (as domesticated animals have done) or contributing, often in problematic ways, to our concept of the wild. The book begins with a group of essays that approach the historical relevance of human-animal relations seen from the perspectives of various disciplines and suggest ways in which animals might be brought into formal studies of history. Differences in species and location can greatly affect the shape of human-animal interaction, and so the essays that follow address a wide spectrum of topics, including the demanding fate of the working horse, the complex image of the American alligator (at turns a dangerous predator and a tourist attraction), the zoo gardens of Victorian England, the iconography of the rhinoceros and the preference it reveals in society for myth over science, relations between humans and wolves in Europe, and what we can learn from society's enthusiasm for 'political' animals, such as the pets of the American presidents and the Soviet Union's 'space dogs.' Taken together, these essays suggest new ways of looking not only at animals but at human history. Wet GrowthAuthor :Craig Anthony ArnoldISBN : Genre :Law File Size : 25.22 MB Format :PDF, ePub, Docs Download :189 Read :1257 It is unrealistic and unwise to believe that water law will or should govern land use decisions, or alternatively that land use planning and regulation will or should govern water management. Nonetheless, the initially unsettling question of whether one area of law and policy should control the other provokes discussion and reflection on both why and how we might move toward greater integration of land and water controls. Wet Growth: Should Water Law Control Land Use? was written as a means to disseminate new ideas about the land/water interface in law and policy and provides an overview of the relevant issues, current trends toward integrating land and water controls, and prospects for further progress. The authors of this book describe the nature and costs of our currently fragmented management of land and water resources that results in unsustainable practices and suggest principles that should guide and direct our response to these problems. Although they take differing perspectives, the authors share common, or at least overlapping, observations about the fragmentation and integration of land and water controls. Beyond Nature S HousekeepersAuthor :Nancy C. UngerISBN :9780199986002 Genre :Social Science File Size : 29.34 MB Format :PDF, Docs Download :746 Read :799 From pre-Columbian times to the environmental justice movements of the present, women and men frequently responded to the environment and environmental issues in profoundly different ways. Although both environmental history and women's history are flourishing fields, explorations of the synergy produced by the interplay between environment and sex, sexuality, and gender are just beginning. Offering more than biographies of great women in environmental history, Beyond Nature's Housekeepers examines the intersections that shaped women's unique environmental concerns and activism and that framed the way the larger culture responded. Women featured include Native Americans, colonists, enslaved field workers, pioneers, homemakers, municipal housekeepers, immigrants, hunters, nature writers, soil conservationists, scientists, migrant laborers, nuclear protestors, and environmental justice activists. As women, they fared, thought, and acted in ways complicated by social, political, and economic norms, as well as issues of sexuality and childbearing. Nancy C. Unger reveals how women have played a unique role, for better and sometimes for worse, in the shaping of the American environment. The Oxford Handbook Of Environmental HistoryAuthor :Andrew C. IsenbergISBN :9780199394470 Genre :History File Size : 85.9 MB Format :PDF, ePub, Docs Download :858 Read :217 The field of environmental history emerged just decades ago but has established itself as one of the most innovative and important new approaches to history, one that bridges the human and natural world, the humanities and the sciences. With the current trend towards internationalizing history, environmental history is perhaps the quintessential approach to studying subjects outside the nation-state model, with pollution, global warming, and other issues affecting the earth not stopping at national borders. With 25 essays, this Handbook is global in scope and innovative in organization, looking at the field thematically through such categories as climate, disease, oceans, the body, energy, consumerism, and international relations. Correction LinesAuthor :Curt MeineISBN :1597268542 Genre :Nature File Size : 69.57 MB Format :PDF Download :292 Read :830 The last fifteen years have been a period of dramatic change, both in the world at large and within the fields of ecology and conservation. The end of the Cold War, the dot-com boom and bust, the globalizing economy, and the attacks of September 11, among other events and trends, have reshaped our worldview and the political environment in which we find ourselves. At the same time, emerging knowledge, needs, and opportunities have led to a rapid evolution in our understanding of the scientific foundations and social context of conservation. Correction Lines is a new collection of essays from one of our most thoughtful and eloquent writers on conservation, putting these recent changes into perspective and exploring the questions they raise about the past, present, and future of the conservation movement. The essays explore interrelated themes: the relationship between biological and social dimensions; the historic tension between utilitarian and preservationist approaches; the integration of varied cultural perspectives; the enduring legacy of Aldo Leopold; the contrasts and continuities between conservation and environmentalism; the importance of political reform; and the need to 'retool' conservation to address twentyfirst-century realities. Collectively the essays assert that we have reached a critical juncture in conservation-a 'correction line' of sorts. Correction Lines argues that we need a more coherent and comprehensive account of the past if we are to understand our present circumstances and move forward under unprecedented conditions. Meine brings together a deep sense of history with powerful language and compelling imagery, yielding new insights into the origins and development of contemporary conservation. Correction Lines will help us think more clearly about the forces that have changed, and are changing, conservation, and inspire us to address current realities and future needs. Nature And History In Modern ItalyAuthor :Marco ArmieroISBN :9780821443477 Down To Earth Steinberg Pdf Files OnlineGenre :History File Size : 61.2 MB Format :PDF, ePub Download :133 Read :704 Is Italy il bel paese—the beautiful country—where tourists spend their vacations looking for art, history, and scenery? Or is it a land whose beauty has been cursed by humanity’s greed and nature’s cruelty? The answer is largely a matter of narrative and the narrator’s vision of Italy. The fifteen essays in Nature and History in Modern Italy investigate that nation’s long experience in managing domesticated rather than wild natures and offer insight into these conflicting visions. Italians shaped their land in the most literal sense, producing the landscape, sculpting its heritage, embedding memory in nature, and rendering the two different visions inseparable. The interplay of Italy’s rich human history and its dramatic natural diversity is a subject with broad appeal to a wide range of readers. The Republic Of NatureAuthor :Mark FiegeISBN :9780295804149 Genre :History File Size : 65.98 MB Down To Earth Steinberg SummaryFormat :PDF, ePub, DocsDownload :855 Read :1089 In the dramatic narratives that comprise The Republic of Nature, Mark Fiege reframes the canonical account of American history based on the simple but radical premise that nothing in the nation's past can be considered apart from the natural circumstances in which it occurred. Revisiting historical icons so familiar that schoolchildren learn to take them for granted, he makes surprising connections that enable readers to see old stories in a new light. Among the historical moments revisited here, a revolutionary nation arises from its environment and struggles to reconcile the diversity of its people with the claim that nature is the source of liberty. Abraham Lincoln, an unlettered citizen from the countryside, steers the Union through a moment of extreme peril, guided by his clear-eyed vision of nature's capacity for improvement. In Topeka, Kansas, transformations of land and life prompt a lawsuit that culminates in the momentous civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education. By focusing on materials and processes intrinsic to all things and by highlighting the nature of the United States, Fiege recovers the forgotten and overlooked ground on which so much history has unfolded. In these pages, the nation's birth and development, pain and sorrow, ideals and enduring promise come to life as never before, making a once-familiar past seem new. The Republic of Nature points to a startlingly different version of history that calls on readers to reconnect with fundamental forces that shaped the American experience. For more information, visit the author's website: http://republicofnature.com/ American PestsAuthor :James E. McWilliamsISBN :9780231511360 Genre :Science File Size : 87.88 MB Format :PDF, ePub, Docs Download :936 Read : Down To Earth Steinberg Pdf Files269Down To Earth Steinberg Pdf Files DownloadDown To Earth Steinberg Pdf Files FreeThe world of insects is one we only dimly understand. Yet from using arsenic, cobalt, and quicksilver to kill household infiltrators to employing the sophisticated tools of the Orkin Man, Americans have fought to eradicate the 'bugs' they have learned to hate. Inspired by the still-revolutionary theories of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, James E. McWilliams argues for a more harmonious and rational approach to our relationship with insects, one that does not harm our environment and, consequently, ourselves along the way. Beginning with the early techniques of colonial farmers and ending with the modern use of chemical insecticides, McWilliams deftly shows how America's war on insects mirrors its continual struggle with nature, economic development, technology, and federal regulation. He reveals a very American paradox: the men and women who settled and developed this country sought to control the environment and achieve certain economic goals; yet their methods of agricultural expansion undermined their efforts and linked them even closer to the inexorable realities of the insect world. As told from the perspective of the often flamboyant actors in the battle against insects, American Pests is a fascinating investigation into the attitudes, policies, and practices that continue to influence our behavior toward insects. Asking us to question, if not abandon, our reckless (and sometimes futile) attempts at insect control, McWilliams convincingly argues that insects, like people, have an inherent right to exist and that in our attempt to rid ourselves of insects, we compromise the balance of nature.Top Download:Comments are closed.
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