An Environmental History of Latin America

New Approaches to the Americas

by Shawn William Miller

This book narrates the mutually mortal historical contest between humans and nature in Latin America. Covering a period that begins with Amerindian civilizations and concludes in the region's present urban agglomerations, the work offers an original synthesis of the current scholarship on Latin America's environmental history and argues that tropical nature played a central role in shaping the region's historical development. Seeing Latin America's environmental past from the perspective of many centuries illustrates that human civilizations, ancient and modern, have been simultaneously more powerful and more vulnerable than previously thought.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Latin American History, School, Environment

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2007

Reviews

[gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good introduction to environmental history, colonialism, and Latin American national development.

[Vanesa Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible, there is so much I didn't know about Latin America and it calls into question a lot of the myths we're taught about the people's relationship to the environment.

[mantareads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. It's a great intro into the region, and heartbreaking to get even a small glimpse at just how much human knowledge and natural treasures have been lost over the centuries. I'm amazed that such an ambitious work, spanning 6 centuries, an entire region (and a bit of the "Old World") , and multiple cultures actually reads so smoothly. Full of illuminating insights and fascinating episodes, from the stories of guano, to monarch butterflies, and even an intriguing discussion on Aztec cannibalism.

[Ian Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me long enough. Even tonight i fell asleep again while reading it. It was actually fine, but still felt like a slog to get to the end. The chapters towards the end once it got to more modern history were especially interesting. Like any other environmental history, and really ones focusing on gas consumption/car use and the multifaceted damage they do just has me ready to vest up like ethan hawke at the end of first reformed

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a historical environmental book that I was assigned to read for class, this was actually pretty good. It was engaging and I learned a lot of things that I did not know before reading this book.

"People should not have to depend on the vagaries of prices in the world economy, long distance transportation, and superpower "goodwill" for their next meal." (229)

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miller chronicles "the mutually vital and reciprocally mortal relationship between tropical nature and human culture in Latin America" (iii). Human attitudes and appetites (including cannibalism) as well as hookworms, whales, hurricanes, bananas, dirt, butterflies, and guano all figure in this series of historical episodes in latin American history from Amerindian civilizations to the present tropical metropolises. Nature and culture have shaped each other profoundly in latin America, and thus Miller proposes that they receive equally billing. Consumption makes a frequent appearance as a player in the action: humans have been the only species "to consume exponentially more than its basic biological needs" (4). "As Wallace Stegner reminded us, nature appreciation and natural destruction are utterly compatible" (5). Racism and environmental determinism (though of course well-challenged by intellectuals and historians since at least the 1940s) are enduring constructs used by Europeans to explain why Latin America was unfit to govern itself toward civilization (107). The book is indeed more concerned with the broad stroke than the finite details, but overall it does great work in painting an overview of how environmental conditions informed a colonial process that was similar yet distinct from North American settlement (Europeans still conquered a native people but they tended to intermarry rather than segregate completely).

While much of his research stays in time, place, and dispassionate analysis, there are moments where breaks open to larger societal issues of the present in which he offers gratuitous advice more in line with environmental politics than history (not that I necessarily disagree with his suggestions):

"Our current way of life is maintained by the constant addition of power-hungry, technological props. Kick any one of them away--internal combustion, synthetic nitrogen, concrete dams, paved highways, pesticidal agriculture--and much that we take fro granted comes crashing down. Rather than adding more props, or propping up current props, our investments ought to evidence wisdom instead of betray insatiability" (166).

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history book that reads like a novel. Really really interesting and hard to put down, believe it or not! The way Miller describes ancient Mayan and Inca civilizations is amazing. He also convincingly traces back many major political and economic events to simple biological facts (e.g. the impact of banana fungi on Guatemala's politics). It's a bit like the environmental version of Napoleon's Buttons.

[Ashwin Ravikumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic piece. If you think that the title sounds too ambitious for its length, well, you're probably right that it's not a comprehensive treatment of ALL ASPECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACROSS THE CONTINENT...But damn is it a great overview.

Miller makes compelling arguments about the forces that have driven change in Latin America, and you're guaranteed to learn some fun facts about history that you didn't know before.

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tells the history of Latin America through its environmental history. Doesn't take it easy on the indians. Very readable. He bashes driving cars, but it's still a good book, especially the pre-colonial and colonial eras. Really like how he debunks the idea of a "new world" and the pristine myth. Also that the environment took over for a few years after indian deaths.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good environmental history on Latin America, short but well rounded and overall very readable.

[José Angel Hernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it, but I thought my friend Charles Mann's books were more readable and interesting.