From the Colombian exchange beginning in 1492, the development of slavery as a southern institution, the westward movement to the Dust Bowl, the Endangered Species Act, and the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, human interaction with the environment in America has been continuous, open-ended, and dynamic. How communities and individuals use land, water, and natural resources has profoundly shaped U.S. history, influencing settlement patterns, social relations, cultural life, economic systems, and political institutions. In the past generation, scholars have examined these human-environmental interactions in myriad ways, giving birth to the exciting, new field of environmental history. By shedding light on new issues and recasting familiar views of major events and developments in our nation's past, environmental historians have reinterpreted American history in a way that is gripping, immediate, and timely.
The four-volume Encyclopedia of American Environmental History consists of approximately 800 articles covering every significant issue, event, law, and figure in American environmental history. This new encyclopedia begins with a broad introductory essay and eight thematic essays, which highlight the major issues and topics in environmental history and serve as a learning center and entryway to other, more specific articles throughout the reference. Features of this comprehensive resource include 200 illustrations, 100 original documents, 75 maps, 20 charts, a master chronology, bibliography, and an index. Arranged alphabetically, all articles are written and signed by leading environmental historians, scholars, and experts, many of them members of the American Society for Environmental History (ASEH). The Board of Advisers is composed of a wide array of distinguished historians, and many of them are ASEH founders and members. Written in clear and jargon-free prose, Encyclopedia of American Environmental History is the definitive reference on this critical topic and is ideal for the high school and college curriculum as well as organizations dealing with environmental issues.
