Man and Nature: Or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action

by George Perkins Marsh

Overview

An essential read for the next generation of environmentalists and climate scholars, this landmark text analyzes the impact of human action on nature by linking the environmental degradation of ancient Mediterranean civilization to the United States of the 1800s. As profoundly topical today as it was in 1864, this informative yet easy-to-read text is split into six chapters and may be easily used in a course syllabus.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486847283
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	04/14/2021
Series:	Dover Thrift Editions: Nature/Environment
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

David Lowenthal is professor emeritus of geography at University College London. His books include George Perkins Marsh: Prophet of Conservation, The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History, and The Past Is a Foreign Country.

Table of Contents

Foreword: A Classic of Conservation

Introduction to the 2003 Edition

A Note on the Text

Preface

Introductory

Transfer, Modification and Extirpation of Vegetable and of Animal Species

The Woods

The Waters

The Sands

Projected or Possible Geographical Changes by Man

Index

What People are Saying About This

William Cronon

"It is no exaggeration to say that Man and Nature launched the modern conservation movement. It helped Americans in the second half of the nineteenth century recognize the damage they were doing to the natural environment, and challenged them to behave in more responsible ways toward the earth and its natural systems. . . . Man and Nature stands right next to Silent Spring and A Sand County Almanac by any measure of historic significance."

Wallace Stegner

"[Man and Nature was] the rudest kick in the face that American initiative, optimism, and carelessness had yet received."

Editorial Reviews

"Widely recognized as the book that launched the conservation movement, this is truly an environmental classic..The immense historical sweep of the book is incredible, surveying human impacts on nature since Roman times..Masterfully edited and annotated by David Lowenthal, the leading biographer and scholar on Marsh."

American Forests

Widely recognized as the book that launched the conservation movement, this is truly an environmental classic..The immense historical sweep of the book is incredible, surveying human impacts on nature since Roman times..Masterfully edited and annotated by David Lowenthal, the leading biographer and scholar on Marsh.

American Forests