Promotional Information

Addresses how 19th-century Americans interacted with nature and the environment.

Table of Contents

Preface Introduction: The Wonder of Nature Expanding Colonial Systems Variations on the Agricultural Ideal Technology Leads the Day Corridors of Trade Speaking for Nature Civil War The Ethic of Extraction Factories in the Field Cities and Worker Reform Prioritizing Nature Epilogue: The New Niagara and the Preservation Ethic

About the Author

Brian Black is associate professor in the departments of history and environmental studies at Penn State University, Altoona. He is the author of PETROLIA: The Landscape of America's First Oil Boom.

Reviews

Students looking for well-documented fact bites for research papers will find the book useful….The book begins and ends with a fascinating narrative on the trashing and subsequent restoration of Niagara Falls in the 19th century. Recommended. Public and general libraries, and reference collections serving lower-level undergraduates.
*Choice*

Black considers changing ideas about nature and the environment in nineteenth-century America, beginning with colonial times. He discusses the influence of agriculture, technology, trade areas, nature writing, mining, farming, the environment during the Civil War, factories and industrialization, and conservation efforts toward the end of the century.
*SciTech Book News*