From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain: A History of Environmental Change in Temperate North America from 1500 to the Present

Description

From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain is an account of the making of the American landscape following European settlement. It starts with "virgin" forests and grasslands of the central and northeastern United States, and successively documents the clearance and fragmentation of the region's woodlands, the harvest of the forest and its game, the plowing of prairies and the draining of wetlands. The Native American, the trapper, the farmer and the lumberman all benefited from the land and its resources; the degree to which their activities altered the soil, the climate, the natural plant and animal communities, and the water cycle is examined here.

'This is a magnificent work ... The book is so well done that I hesitate to mention any specific parts lest I neglect something ... This is a book that every physical geographer should read ... I predict this book will rapidly become a classic and only wish that other scholars would write equally good works on other areas of the world.' Stanley W. Trimble, Progress in Physical Geography 'Whitney's ecological history is scholarly, comprehensive, well written and interesting.' Conservation Biology 'Scholarship shines forth ... whether the interest is in North America, comparative regional studies or approaches to studying forest landscapes, this volume will be a source of insight, entertainment and academic inspiration.' Trends in Ecology and Evolution