U.S. Environmentalism since 1945: A Brief History with Documents - Softcover

Stoll, Steven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 031241076X ISBN 13: 9780312410766

Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006

Synopsis

By the end of World War II, Americans' relationship with nature had changed dramatically. New consumption patterns drove an industrial economy that exploited the earth in new ways, and the atomic age heightened awareness of the earth's fragility. Environmental historian Steven Stoll identifies 1945 as the year in which environmentalism was born -- a fusion of decades-old thinking about conservation with activism to form a diverse political movement. In this thematically organized collection of primary sources, Stoll traces the development of the environmental movement and identifies its central premises and ideologies, including preservation politics, population growth, biological interdependence, climate change, ethical consumption, and environmental justice. Stoll's insightful introduction provides students with a solid overview of environmentalism's origins and contextualizes the issues raised by the documents. Document headnotes, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography offer additional pedagogical support.

About this title

About the Author:

STEVEN STOLL is associate professor of history and American studies at Yale University. He is the author of Larding the Lean Earth: Soil and Society in Nineteenth-Century America (2002) and The Fruits of Natural Advantage: Making the Industrial Countryside in California (1998). He is currently writing a history of nature and material progress in the nineteenth century.

Review:

"This volume presents a wide-ranging and provocative selection of primary documents that will stimulate students to think critically about the complex nature and multiple aspects of American environmentalism in the modern era." - Rebecca Conrad, Middle Tennessee State University

About this edition

• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 031241076X
• ISBN 13: 9780312410766
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192