Common Fields: An Environmental History of St. Louis / Edition 2

by Andrew Hurley

Overview

The confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers supported some of the earliest settlements in America.  From the Cahokia Mounds civilization to the flood of 1993, residents of the St. Louis region have depended on this landscape even as they have threatened its bounty.

In Common Fields, thirteen original essays tell of the city's constant tension between urban growth and environmental sustainability.  Geographers, archaeologists, and historians examine the relationship between the city's diverse residents and the environment on which their well-being depends.  Whether channeling the river, laying streets, or clearing the air of coal smoke, St. Louisans have shown great ingenuity in overcoming the hazards of city development.

And yet, our solutions to making the best use of the environment have only highlighted more basic societal questions:  How do we ensure liberty while providing equal opportunities?  How do we recognize uniqueness while eliminating barriers that prevent others' success?  The answers have everything to do with our ability to make sensible use of our environment-just as the rivers, fields, and city streets will forever shape the character of this city.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781883982164
Publisher:	Missouri Historical Society Press
Publication date:	04/01/1997
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	319
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Andrew Hurley is associate professor of history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis where he teaches urban and environmental history.  He received his Ph. D. from Northwestern University.  He is the author of Environmental Inequalities:  Class, Race, and Industrial Pollution in Gary, Indiana, 1945-1980.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Robert R. Archibald
 
Common Fields
An Introduction
Andrew Hurley
 
The Environmental Setting of the St. Louis Region
Walter Schroeder
 
Culture and Environment in the American Bottom
The Rise and Fall of Cahokia Mounds
William R. Iseminger
 
Contested Terrain
Environmental Agendas and Settlement Choices in Colonial St. Louis
Patricia Cleary
 
Where Did the Villages Go?
Steamboatsm Deforestation, and Archaeological Loss in the Mississippi Valley
F. Terry Norris
 
Paving St. Louis’s Streets
The Environmental Origins of Social Fragmentation
Eric Sandweiss
 
Draining the Metropolis
The Politics of Sewers in Nineteenth-Century St. Louis
Katharine T. Corbett
 
Re-Imagining the Urban Landscape
Fire Risk and Insurance in Nineteenth-Century St. Louis
Mark Tebeau
 
Busby’s Stink Boat and the Regulation of Nuisance Trades, 1865-1918
Andrew Hurley
 
Environmental Justice in the American Bottom
The Legal Response to Pollution, 1900-1950
Craig E. Colten
 
“The Land of a Million Smiles”
Urban Tourism and the Commodification of the Missouri Ozarks, 1900-1940
Jennifer A. Crets
 
The Struggle for Smoke Control in St. Louis
Achievement and Emulation
Joel A. Tarr and Carl Zimring
 
River Dreams
St. Louis Labor and the Fight for a Missouri Valley Authority
Rosemary Feurer
 
Floods, Rats, and Toxic Waste
Allocating Environmental Hazards Since World War II
Andrew Hurley
 
Contributors
Notes
Acknowledgements
Index
 

Editorial Reviews

"The Missouri Historical Society Press can take considerable pride in having published Common Fields. This is a book that should add much to the conversation among St. Louis area residents about the past and present condition of their environment. At the same time, it should enjoy a much wider readership as well." —Phillip V. Scarpino in Public Historian, spring 1998

"Common Fields may inspire a new genre in the field of environmental history that focuses attention on individual cities. In fact, other volumes are now being crafted with the organization of Common Fields as a model." —Martin V. Melosi in Journal of American History, March 1998

From the Publisher