Nature's End: History and the Environment

by S. Sïrlin (Editor), P. Warde (Editor)

Overview

Environmental History as a distinct discipline is now over a generation old, with a large and diverse group of practitioners around the globe. This book provides a reflection on the achievements, diversity, and direction of environmental history in its varied national, international and continental contexts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230203471
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	07/23/2009
Edition description:	2009
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

PAUL WARDE is a Reader in Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia. Previous works include Economy, Ecology and State Formation in Early Modern Germany (2006) and Energy Consumption in England and Wales 1560-2000 (2007). He was the recipient of a Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2008.

SVERKER SÖRLIN is Professor of Environmental History in the Division of History of Science and Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology, Skholm. Among his books are Sustainability – the Challenge (1998) and Narrating the Arctic (2002, with M.T.Bravo). He won the August [for Strindberg] Prize for his two volume History of European Ideas 1492-1918 (2004).

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Notes on Contributors ix

Making the Environment Historical - An Introduction Sverker Sörlin Paul Warde 1

Part 1 The Rise of the Environmental

1 Imperialism, Intellectual Networks, and Environmental Change; Unearthing the Origins and Evolution of Global Environmental History Richard Grove Vinita Damodaran 23

2 Separation, Proprietorship and Community in the History of Conservation William M. Adams 50

3 The Environmental History of Pre-industrial Agriculture in Europe Paul Warde 70

4 The Global Warming That Did Not Happen: Historicizing Glaciology and Climate Change Sverker Sörlin 93

5 Genealogies of the Ecological Moment: Planning, Complexity and the Emergence of 'the Environment' as Politics in West Germany, 1949-1982 Holger Nehring 115

Part II History and the Environmental Sciences

6 The Environmental History of Mountain Regions Robert A. Dodgsh 141

7 Interdisciplinary Conversations: The Collective Model A. Hamilton F. Watson A.L. Davies N. Hanky 162

8 New Science for Sustainability in an Ancient Land Libby Robin 188

Part III Making Space: Environments and Their Contexts

9 54, 40 or Fight: Writing Within and Across Borders in North American Environmental History Matthew Evenden Graeme Wynn 215

10 Modernity and the Politics of Waste in Britain Tim Cooper 247

11 Why Intensify? The Outline of a Theory of the Institutional Causes Driving Long-Term Changes in Chinese Farming and the Consequent Modifications to the Environment Mark Elvin 173

12 Reconsidering Climate and Causality: Case Studies from Colonial Mexico Georgina Endpeld 304

Part IV 'Things Human'

13 Destinies and Decisions: Taking the Life-World Seriously in Environmental History Kirsten Hastrup 331

Afterword Peter Burke 349

Index 358

Editorial Reviews

'Nature's End is both an adept explanation of the ways in which historians can make the environment a central theme, and a treasure trove packed with gems of essays by leading scholars who show how it is done. This book is a state-of-the-art guide to contemporary questions in global environmental history.'

- J. Donald Hughes, University of Denver, USA

'This volume makes a contribution not only to the history of the environment, but also to its historiography and to the history of thought about the environment It contributes to bridge-building between disciplines and also to a dialogue with other kinds of historian, whether they work on politics or culture.'

- Peter Burke, University of Cambridge, UK

'Leading scholars of environmental history clarify the discipline's epistemological context

and offer compelling case studies. Nature's End is indispensable reading for all who seek to meld the various communities of knowledge of our world.'

- Carole Crumley, University of North Carolina, USA

'Nature's End deserves a wide audience. Environmental historians of all sorts will find it useful, as few such collections can boast such a rich and diverse array of contributions, ranging widely in geographical and chronological scope and presenting several methodological and conceptual approaches.' - William Cavert, H-Environment

'...thought-provoking...Hopefully, this volume will guide environmental and cultural historians towards fruitful interaction.' - European History Quarterly

From the Publisher