The Republic of Nature: An Environmental history of the United States

Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books

by Mark Fiege

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/

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Nature, Science, Environment, School

520 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Mark Ramirez · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was fine. It was the first comprehensive U.S. Environmental History text I’ve read, so it was interesting in that sense. The author, however, makes in my opinion some very far-fetched connections between major historical events/figures and what his definition of “nature” is.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting way to add richness to the American history that we were all taught in school. Fiege applies the ecological analysis normally used to bring environmental issues into relief to the greatest hits of American history from the Salem witch trials, to the Revolutionary War, to the rise of slavery, Lincoln and the Civil War, the spread of railroads, and the development of the atomic bomb.

My favorite chapter was Fiege's discussion of the Civil War, using the Battle of Gettysburg as its focal point. I've visited the battlefield several times over the years, but not being much of an aficionado of battlefield strategy and tactics, I never got much out of hearing about the iconic details of the battle -- its key places like Little Round Top and Seminary Ridge or its key events like Pickett's Charge. Fiege actually explains how both armies used terrain as a weapon in a way that I could understand (to start with: there was an advantage in taking and holding high ground like hills and ridge lines -- you could see the enemy better than he could see you and you could fortify yourself up top to make it hard for soldiers coming up a hill in the face of fire to scale your walls).

Intended largely as an alternative type of textbook for U.S. history classes, "The Republic of Nature" will be interesting for a general reader interested in deepening her knowledge of key events and developments in American history as well.

And in an age of revisionist history, this book puts issues like race that we care about today front and center. Yet, Fiege doesn't throw out American icons with the bathwater of racial injustice. The book shines a worthy light on the experiences and achievements of women and people of color while still finding reasons to admire Washington, Lincoln, and other dead white men.

The biggest contribution of this book is to bring "nature," both as natural resources and as a philosophy of what's in harmony with natural laws, into mainstream history. Fiege's chapter on the Revolution talks about the latter, how founding fathers drew on John Locke and other enlightenment philosophers to create a system of government in harmony with nature. The biggest chapter on natural resources is about the 1975 oil crisis, making a valuable contribution to let the reader know just how important that episode was to recent history and how much impact it's had on not just energy policy and the environment but also American politics of the last four decades.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. First off, what are the actual odds of finding a book combining two of my main reading interests: American history and environmental science/nature? That in itself gives the book an automatic 3.5 stars lol.

But seriously. I learned a lot from this book. Was all of it directly related to environmentalism? Not necessarily, some of it was, pure and simple, a stretch. But boy did I learn a lot and the author is a good writer. In parts I was in awe.

The introduction was strong and made me think of the contrasts of wealth and power hurting the environment, a moment that most strongly struck me while at the Trump tower in NYC.

The first two chapters I knew mostly everything and didn’t think the environmental touch added anything new. However here’s a quote I liked at the beginning:

“The capacity of the mind to envision, calculate, and dream is virtually infinite. In their heads, people imagine things that transcend their physical circumstances. They contemplate future and past, perfect forms and supernatural powers, and a reality on the other side of death. Yet their capacity to image things beyond nature is rooted in nature, in an organ called the brain, and in the physical body and it’s experiences of its environment. “

And another one from chapter 2:
“Merchants extracted human nature from Africa and forced it to labor in the colonies; tradesmen extracted cotton, flax, and other materials from the earth and turned them into paper on which writers conveyed ideas of natural rights”.

I learned a lot from the “King Cotton” chapter including:
-environmental conditions that masters couldn’t control or disrupted steady production gave slaves a chance to resist
- struggle that slave owners needed better workers with higher quality food than they provided so allowed autonomy like hunting with dogs, fishing, creating own gardens but also allowed slaves power and autonomy and freedom.
-some slaves paid to work on sundays, fought for highest wage
-There’s a tie between Lincoln doing free work for his dad until 21 as custom to the time (and resenting it) and hard labor of cutting trees etc. making his dislike slave labor for these reasons
-Lincoln knowing and being able to navigate the Sangamon River even down to New Orleans when it pitches the Mississippi River helped him gain political power

[Cam Netland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best chapters were on the Witch Trials, Lincoln, and Los Alamos. A more clear idea of what Nature means to Fiege would have helped connect some of the more disparate chapters in the text (the Brown vs. Board and 1973-1974 gas shortage chapters). My favorite of the insights here is how Lincoln perfectly embodies all of the contradictions of America. How our mythical promised ideals of self improvement are constantly circumvented by our physical surroundings. Favorite chapter was definitely “Nature’s Nobleman” which I will admit provoked a tear of two as it recounted the now almost mythical pain Lincoln shouldered in his tragic quest for self improvement and preservation of what he believed. That even in the constantly abused experiment of governance by the people in this country, that those ideals were somehow inherent in nature and could be grasped.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a very innovative approach to American environmental history, insofar as it's about how American people used the environment to do what they needed to do in the name of progress. I think I'm going to use this book the next time I teach American environmetal history because these are things we don't normally think about - nature is nature and people are people in most environmental studies but this is much more integrated, and that, to me, is a good thing.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some chapters were amazing. Some less so. Overall very interesting book that leaves me with questions of my own.

The King Cotton chapter was probably my favorite.

The conservative argument over what is "natural" as the driving force behind it is really interesting. That could be a book rather than relegated to the epilogue. Maybe I'll research that on my own

[Savannah Burden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads really easily, but I still honestly don't know how some of these things are considered environmental history. Some of it just seems like a stretch.
But it was a nice break to have something that doesn't seem dense when you read it.

(Read for Comparative Environmental History)

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book on the role of the environment in the history of the United States. The chapters are succinct and well-sourced, and this is a vital text for anyone who wishes to study the role of nature in American History.

[Allison Bakalars · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, only read chapters 1 and 5 but I would read more at some point.

[Michael Figueroa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thought provoking book about how our nation has got to where it is and how we look at our path forward.

[Dan Carey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up on the audiobook due to the narrator.
Might be worth picking up the ebook version.

[Kyle Rebar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a US Environmental History class. Feige’s narrative challenges the idea that human civilization is separate from nature—that nature guides and limits what we are able to do as a society…

Feige examines at how environmental factors played into gross American institutions (like our displacement of native Americans and slavery). It’s difficult to sit with at times. The reality is we’ve royally screwed up and this text helps offer insights on how we can do better by nature and each other moving forward.

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. I was expecting a history of the environment of the U.S., and instead it was more a book about how the environment of the U.S. shaped it's history in a few major events. It started off pretty slow, but it got much more interesting from half way through on. Still, I think I'll go back to the history of the environment.

[Illi]

I really liked this narrative on Environmental history. My thoughts on it are pretty good, mostly because it starts off with colonial American history and finished with alternative types of technology in the present day.

[Photina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the history Fiege provides. He talks about different eras in our history with some interesting sources to back him up.

[Kevin Koppelmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not care for the book as much as I hoped. I did have a chance to meet the author in Boulder Co and really enjoyed his perspectives.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting!