Nature and the English Diaspora: Environment and History in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

Description

This book is a comparative history of the development of ideas about nature, particularly of the importance of native nature in the Anglo settler countries of the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It examines the development of natural history, settlers' adaptations to the end of expansion, scientists' shift from natural history to ecology, and the rise of environmentalism. Addressing not only scientific knowledge but also popular issues from hunting to landscape painting, this book explores the ways in which English-speaking settlers looked at nature in their new lands.

"Dunlap's fine book, accessible to both scholars and a popular audience, covers many other provocative issues, including early-twentieth-century conservation efforts and late-twentieth-century environmental activism." Suzanne Marshall, History "...what the book does, it does well.Dunlap handles his subjects deftly and concisely. The result is a kind of popularization not unlike that which it celebrates. The book stands to formal historical scholarhsip as the natural history essay does to formal science. It reads like a guided nature walk through environmental history - not a bad way to learn about a new place, or a bad way to introduce the complex settlement history of four nations." Journal of Interdisciplinary History "...very well organized and very well documented." Choice "...very well organized and very well documented." Choice