Recommended Reading
Recommended Reading
Recommended Reads from our Faculty
Each semesterly newsletter features a top three readings list recommended by a staff or faculty member. For Spring 2022, that faculty member will be adjunct professor Joseph R. D’Argenio, MA, Lehigh University, Early America.
- “The Idea of Wilderness: From Prehistory to the Age of Ecology” by Max Oelschlaeger
- This classic interdisciplinary study traces the evolving idea of wilderness from prehistory to the present, illuminating the dynamic relationship between humanity and the natural world. Oelschlaeger argues that the changing character of societies informed definitions of wilderness, while those definitions influenced how societies interacted with “wild” nature. An excellent wide-ranging study linking cultural and intellectual traditions to land-use patterns, resource use, and sustainable—or unsustainable—development.
- This classic interdisciplinary study traces the evolving idea of wilderness from prehistory to the present, illuminating the dynamic relationship between humanity and the natural world. Oelschlaeger argues that the changing character of societies informed definitions of wilderness, while those definitions influenced how societies interacted with “wild” nature. An excellent wide-ranging study linking cultural and intellectual traditions to land-use patterns, resource use, and sustainable—or unsustainable—development.
- “Driven Wild: How the Fight Against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement” by Paul Sutter
- Focusing on the early Twentieth Century, Sutter demonstrates the relationship between automobile-based recreational use of wild areas and the emergence of the wilderness movement. The expansion of roadways and tourist-related infrastructure on public lands produced, among conservationists, a fear that modern, industrial American society was irrevocably damaging the ecology of North America. The result was the emergence of new ideas about preservation and more sustainable interaction between society and the natural world.
- Focusing on the early Twentieth Century, Sutter demonstrates the relationship between automobile-based recreational use of wild areas and the emergence of the wilderness movement. The expansion of roadways and tourist-related infrastructure on public lands produced, among conservationists, a fear that modern, industrial American society was irrevocably damaging the ecology of North America. The result was the emergence of new ideas about preservation and more sustainable interaction between society and the natural world.
- “The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History” by D. W. Meinig
- “The Shaping of America” is a rich four-volume reinterpretation of American history from the perspective of cultural geography. ‘Atlantic America’ (volume 1) accounts for the development of regional societies during the colonial and early national periods. ‘Continental America’ (volume 2) examines expansion into the interior of the continent, culminating in the Civil War era. ‘Transcontinental America’ (volume 3) analyzes the settlement of the “west” and consolidation of various regions of the country. ‘Global America’ (volume 4) expands Meinig’s study to discuss latter 20th-Century regionalism within the United States and the geography of an American overseas “empire.” The series provides an excellent entry point into the study of American historical geography.
Bibliography
Meinig, D. W. “The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History: Volume 1, Atlantic America, 1492-1800.” Yale University Press, 1988.
Meinig, D. W. “The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History: Volume 2, Continental America, 1800-1867.” Yale University Press, 1995.
Meinig, D. W. “The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History: Volume 3, Transcontinental America, 1850-1915.” Yale University Press, 2000.
Meinig, D. W. “The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History: Volume 4, Global America, 1915-2000.” Yale University Press, 2006.
Oelschlaeger, Max. “The Idea of Wilderness: From Prehistory to the Age of Ecology.” Yale University Press, 1993.
Sutter, Paul. “Driven Wild: How the Fight Against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement.” University of Washington Press, 2005.