THE CONQUEST OF NATURE Water Landscape and the Making of Modern Germany

PORTER Stanley E.

ISBN 10: 0393062120 / ISBN 13: 9780393062120

Published by New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. 9780393062120, 2006

About this Item

1st edn 1st printing. 8vo. Original gilt lettered brown/tan cloth (VG), dustwrapper (VG, not price clipped). Pp. xii + 466, illus with b&w photos and maps (no inscriptions).

Seller Inventory # 187853

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE CONQUEST OF NATURE Water Landscape and the Making of Modern Germany
• Publisher: New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. 9780393062120
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393062120
• ISBN 13: 9780393062120
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Modern History

About this title

Synopsis

"Brilliantly conceived....[A] tour de force in historical writing."―Ian Kershaw

Majestic and lyrically written, The Conquest of Nature traces the rise of Germany through the development of water and landscape. David Blackbourn begins his morality tale in the mid-1700s, with the epic story of Frederick the Great, who attempted―by importing the great scientific minds of the West and by harnessing the power of his army―to transform the uninhabitable marshlands of his scattered kingdom into a modern state. Chronicling the great engineering projects that reshaped the mighty Rhine, the emergence of an ambitious German navy, and the development of hydroelectric power to fuel Germany's convulsive industrial growth before World War I, Blackbourn goes on to show how Nazi racial policies rested on German ideas of mastery of the natural world. Filled with striking reproductions of paintings, maps, and photographs, this grand work of modern history links culture, politics, and the environment in an exploration of the perils faced by nations that attempt to conquer nature.
70 illustrations

About the Author

David Blackbourn is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Distinguished Chair of History Emeritus at Vanderbilt University. The author of seven books, including Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary and The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany, he lives in Nashville, Tennessee.