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Rendering Nature: Animals, Bodies, Places, Politics
"Rendering Nature collects the work of exemplary scholars working at the nexus of the vibrant fields of American studies and environmental history: simultaneously collaborative and ambitious."—Andrew Isenberg, author of Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920
We exist at a moment during which the entangled challenges facing the human and natural worlds confront us at every turn, whether at the most basic level of survival—health, sustenance, shelter—or in relation to our comfort-driven desires. As demand for resources both necessary and unnecessary increases, understanding how nature and culture are interconnected matters more than ever.
Bridging the fields of environmental history and American studies, Rendering Nature examines the surprising interconnections between nature and culture in distinct places, times, and contexts over the course of American history. Divided into four themes—animals, bodies, places, and politics—the essays span a diverse array of locations and periods: from antebellum slave society to atomic testing sites, from gorillas in Central Africa to river runners in the Grand Canyon, from white sun-tanning enthusiasts to Japanese American incarcerees, from taxidermists at the 1893 World's Fair to tents on Wall Street in 2011. Together they offer new perspectives and conceptual tools that can help us better understand the historical realities and current paradoxes of our environmental predicament.
Contributors: Thomas G. Andrews, Connie Y. Chiang, Catherine Cocks, Annie Gilbert Coleman, Finis Dunaway, John Herron, Andrew Kirk, Frieda Knobloch, Susan A. Miller, Brett Mizelle, Marguerite S. Shaffer, Phoebe S. K. Young
Marguerite S. Shaffer is Professor of American Studies and History at Miami University, Ohio.
Phoebe S. K. Young is Associate Professor of History at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
We exist at a moment during which the entangled challenges facing the human and natural worlds confront us at every turn, whether at the most basic level of survival—health, sustenance, shelter—or in relation to our comfort-driven desires. As demand for resources both necessary and unnecessary increases, understanding how nature and culture are interconnected matters more than ever.
Bridging the fields of environmental history and American studies, Rendering Nature examines the surprising interconnections between nature and culture in distinct places, times, and contexts over the course of American history. Divided into four themes—animals, bodies, places, and politics—the essays span a diverse array of locations and periods: from antebellum slave society to atomic testing sites, from gorillas in Central Africa to river runners in the Grand Canyon, from white sun-tanning enthusiasts to Japanese American incarcerees, from taxidermists at the 1893 World's Fair to tents on Wall Street in 2011. Together they offer new perspectives and conceptual tools that can help us better understand the historical realities and current paradoxes of our environmental predicament.
Contributors: Thomas G. Andrews, Connie Y. Chiang, Catherine Cocks, Annie Gilbert Coleman, Finis Dunaway, John Herron, Andrew Kirk, Frieda Knobloch, Susan A. Miller, Brett Mizelle, Marguerite S. Shaffer, Phoebe S. K. Young
Marguerite S. Shaffer is Professor of American Studies and History at Miami University, Ohio.
Phoebe S. K. Young is Associate Professor of History at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published July 2, 2015
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August 6, 2015
A wonderful anthology positioned at the overlap between American Studies and Environmental History. As an American Studies trained PhD but professor with an Environmental History appointment, for the past eight years I was never able to find a textbook appropriate for the way that I wanted to teach my Environmental History courses. Finally, here it is.
The book has a strong 20th century focus, with a handful of chapters on 19th and 21st century topics. There are several chapters about the human-animal connection--something my students have been increasingly interested in over the past decade.
Special highlights for me included Shaffer's chapter on Digit the gorilla, Cocks' essay on the culture of suntanning, Dunaway's work on children and media within the environmental movement, and Young's material culture analysis of the tent during Occupy Wall Street.
An excellent book for adoption in classes, as well as a vanguard text including some of the best work in American Environmental Studies and the nature/culture matrix today.
The book has a strong 20th century focus, with a handful of chapters on 19th and 21st century topics. There are several chapters about the human-animal connection--something my students have been increasingly interested in over the past decade.
Special highlights for me included Shaffer's chapter on Digit the gorilla, Cocks' essay on the culture of suntanning, Dunaway's work on children and media within the environmental movement, and Young's material culture analysis of the tent during Occupy Wall Street.
An excellent book for adoption in classes, as well as a vanguard text including some of the best work in American Environmental Studies and the nature/culture matrix today.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review