Nature Incorporated: Industrialization and the Waters of New England / Edition 1

by Theodore Steinberg

Overview

A great deal of arrogance surrounds this late-twentieth-century attitude toward the environment, and a great deal of history as well. What started as a research paper at Brandeis University expanded into a book that explores the role of the Industrial Revolution in this aggressive stance toward the natural world. The transformation of nature is at least as old as our presence as a species on this planet. But the advent of the industrial age marked a shift in humankind's relations with the earth. Steinberg concerns himself mainly with describing this shift as it was felt in New England, to journey back to a time when the task of subduing nature was full of hard-fought battles and much less arrogance.

University of Massachusetts Press

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870239434
Publisher:	University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date:	12/15/1994
Series:	Studies in Environment and History
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	(w) x (h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Theodore Steinberg teaches history at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University, Newark.

Table of Contents

Part I. Origins: 1. The transformation of water; 2. Control of water company; 3. Waters; Part II. Maturation: 4. The struggle over water; 5. The law of water; 6. Depleted waters; 7. Fouled water; Part III. Decline: 8. The productive value of water.

Editorial Reviews

An imaginative and innovative work offering rich new perspectives on a familiar topic. It is a strong reminder of the contribution that interdisciplinary approaches so central to environmental history make to an understanding of the past.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History

An important book for all interested in the developing fields of environmental history and political ecology.

Human Ecology

A clear, detailed and sometimes moving account of the industrialization of the Merrimack River Valley... It is a tale of environmental degradation and engineering triumph. It is also the story of how water came to be defined as private property. The author does an excellent job of showing the interconnections among dam builders, mill owners, farmer, and public health officials, who each saw the river system differently but who shared the belief that unused water wasted water... Everyone interested in environmental history, the history of business and technology, legal history, and the history of New England will want to read this book.

Choice

Steinberg has written a major contribution to not only environmental history, but to the history of industrialization itself. He has used the tools of legal history, social history, and technological history to create an environmental history of industrialization which should be read by all students of nineteenth-century America.

Journal of Social History

"Steinberg has successfully demonstrated the devastating impact of industrialization on the environment of the Merrimack Valley." The New England Quarterly

"Steinberg has written a major contribution to not only environmental history, but to the history of industrialization itself. He has used the tools of legal history, social history, and technological history to create an environmental history of industrialization which should be read by all students of nineteenth-century America." Journal of Social History

"Nature Incorporated is an important book. Not only does the author add an important environmental dimension to New England's history, but he provides a thoughtful analysis of water's transformation from being a part of nature to a mere commodity." History

"Steinberg's book is a clear, detailed, and sometimes moving account of the industrializaton of the Merrimack River Valley in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, in the years between 1796 and 1894....The author does an excellent job of showing the interconnections among dam builders, mill owners, farmers, and public health officials who saw the river system differently but who shared the belief that unused was wasted water....Everyone interested in environmental history, the history of business and technology, legal history, and the history of New England will want to read this book." Choice

"...a lucid, useful case study...." Christopher Clark, American Historical Review

"Theodore Steinberg brings a much-needed environmental perspective to the study of industrial development....Steinberg warns that we have been 'lulled into thinking that nature can be dominated at will,' and he shows us how that illusory attitude developed." Patrick M. Malone, The Journal of American History

"The subject is fresh, the research is thorough, and the findings are significant....The author's compelling story makes a significant contribution to legal history." Donald J. Pisani, Business History Review

"...an elegantly written, well-researched monograph that sets a high standard in environmental history." Geoffrey Tweedale, Isis

"Nature Incorporated is an imaginative and innovative work offering rich new perspectives on a familiar topic. It is a strong reminder of the contribution that interdisciplinary approaches so central to environmental history make to an understanding of the past." Thomas Dublin, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

From the Publisher