Environmental History Resources

Comparative reading list

This reading list provides basic reading about environmental history in different parts of the world. The literature list can be used to gain access to resources from other continents and countries or for comparison sudies. Click on the region in the map below in which you are interested.

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The Americas

Andrews, Richard N.L., Managing the Environment, Managing Ourselves: A History of American Environmental Policy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999)

Carson, Rachel, Silent Spring (Cambridge, Mass. : Riverside Press, 1962)

Cronon, William, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England (New York: Hill and Wang, 1983)

Cronon, William, Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1991)

Dean, Warren, With Broadax and Firebrand: The Destruction of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. (Berkely: University of California Press, 1995)

Dorsey, Kurkpatrick, The Dawn of Conservation Diplomacy: U.S.-Canadian Wildlife Protection Treaties in the Progressive Era (Washington: University of Washington Press, 1998)

Gottlieb, Robert, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement

(Washington: Island Press, 1993)

Hays, Samuel, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Conservation Movement1890-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959)

Melosi, Martin V, Coping with Abundance: Energy and Environment in Industrial America (Temple University Press, 1985)

Melville, Elinor, A Plague of Sheep: Environmental Consequences of the Conquest of Mexico (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)

Merchant, Carolyn, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution (New York: Harper & Row, 1980)

Nash, Roderick, The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989)

Nash, Roderick, Wilderness and the American Mind (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001)

Raffles, Hugh, WinklerPrins, Antoinette, M. G. A., "Further Reflections on Amazonian Environmental History: Transformations of Rivers and Streams", Latin American Research Review, Vol. 38, Number 3, 2003, pp. 165-187

Reisner, Marc, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water (Penguin Books, 1986, 1993)

Simonian, Lane, Defending the Land of the Jaguar: A History of Conservation in Mexico (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995)

Steinberg, Ted, Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History (Oxford University Press, 2002)

Stradling, David (ed), Conservation in the Progressive Era: Classic Texts (Washington: University of Washington Press, 2004.

Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Green Revolution: The American Environmental Movement, 1962-1999 (New York: Hill & Wang, 1993)

Worster, Donald, Under Western Skies: Nature and History in the American West (Oxford University Press, 1992)

Wynn, Graeme, Canada and Arctic North America: An Environmental History (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2007)

 

Europe

Brimblecombe, Peter and Christian Pfister, The Silent Countdown: Essays in European Environmental History (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1993)

Crosby, Alfred W., Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986)

Christensen, Peter, Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to 1500 A.D (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993)

Ditt, Karl, 'Nature Conservation in England and Germany, 1900-1970: Forerunner of Environmental Protection?', Contemporary European History 5:1-28.

Hughes, J. Donald, Pan's Travail: Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1994)

Hughes, J. Donald, The Mediterranean. An Environmental History (Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2005)

Netting, Robert, Balancing on an Alp: Ecological Change and Continuity in a Swiss Mountain Community (Cambridge University Press, 1981)

Stephen J. Pyne, Vestal Fire. An Environmental History, Told through Fire, of Europe and Europe's Encounter with the World (Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1997)

Richards, John F., The Unending Frontier: Environmental History of the Early Modern World (Berkely: University of California Press, 2003

Whited, Tamara L. (ed.), Northern Europe. An Environmental History (Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2005)

 

Africa

Adams, Jonathan S. and Thomas McShane, The Myth of Wild Africa: Conservation without Illusion (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996)

Cock, Jacklyn and Eddie Koch (eds.), Going Green: People, Politics, and the Environment in South Africa (Capetown: Oxford University Press, 1991)

Dovers, Stephen, Ruth Edgecombe, and Bill Guest (eds.), South Africa's Environmental History: Cases and Comparisons (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2003)

Green Musselman, Elizabeth, “Plant Knowledge at the Cape: A Study in African and European Collaboration,” International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 36, 2003, 367-392

Jacobs, Nancy J., Environment, Power and Injustice: A South African History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)

Maathai, Wangari, Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience (New York: Lantern Books, 2003)

McCann, James, Green Land, Brown Land, Black Land: An Environmental History of Africa, 1800-1990 (Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1999)

Steyn, Phia, "The lingering environmental impact of repressive governance: the environmental legacy of the apartheid-era for the new South Africa", Globalizations, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2005, 391-403

 

Asia

Boomgaard, Peter, ed. Paper Landscapes: Explorations in the Environment of Indonesia. (Leiden: KITLV Press, 1997)

Burke III, Edmund , "The Coming Environmental Crisis in the Middle East: A Historical Perspective, 1750-2000 CE" (April 27, 2005). UC World History Workshop. Essays and Positions from the World History Workshop. Paper 2. http://repositories.cdlib.org/ucwhw/ep/2

Elvin, Mark & Ts'ui-jung Liu (eds.), Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Elvin, Mark, The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004)

Gadgil, M. and R. Guha, This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993)

Grove, Richard, Vinita Damodaran, and Satpal Sangwan (eds.) Nature & the Orient: The Environmental History of South and Southeast Asia (Oxford University Press, 1998)

Menzie, Nicholas, Forest and Land Management in Late Imperial China (London, Macmillan Press. 1994)

Mahong, Bao, "Environmental History in China", Environment and History, Volume 10, Number 4, November 2004, pp. 475-499

Marks, R. B., Tigers, rice, silk and silt. Environment and economy in late imperial South China
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Perdue, Peter C., "Lakes of Empire: Man and Water in Chinese History”, Modern China, 16 (January 1990): 119 - 29

Shapiro, Judith, Mao's War against Nature: Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China (New York: Cambridge University Press. 2001)

Shiva, Vandana, Stolen Harvest: the Hijacking of the Global Food Supply (Cambridge MA: South End Press, 2000)

Tal, Alon, Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of Israel (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002)

Totman, Conrad D., The Green Archipelago: Forestry in Preindustrial Japan (Berkely: University of California Press, 1989)

Totman, Conrad D., Pre-industrial Korea and Japan in Environmental Perspective (Leiden: Brill, 2004)

Ts'ui-jung Liu, Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History (Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Tull, Malcolm, and A. R. Krishnan. "Resource Use and Environmental Management in Japan, 1890-1990", in: J.R. McNeill (ed), Environmental History of the Pacific and the Pacific Rim ( Aldershot Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing, 2001)

Yok-shiu Lee and Alvin Y. So, Asia's Environmental Movements: Comparative Perspectives (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1999)

 

Australia & Oceania

James Beattie, "Environmental Anxiety in New Zealand, 1840-1941: Climate Change, Soil Erosion, Sand Drift, Flooding and Forest Conservation", Environment and History 9(2003): 379-392

Bridgman, H. A., "Could climate change have had an influence on the Polynesian migrations?", Palaeogeography, Palaeoclinuitology, Palaeoecology, 41(1983) 193-206.

Brooking, Tom and Eric Pawson, Environmental Histories of New Zealand (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

Burgmann, Meredith and Burgmann, Verity, Green Bans, Red Union: Environmental activism and the New South Wales Builders Labourers’ Federation (Sydney: UNSWP, 1998).

Carron, L.T., A History of Forestry in Australia (Canberra, 1985).

Cassels, R., "The Role of Prehistoric Man in the Faunal Extinctions of New Zealand and other Pacific Islands", in Martin, P. S. and Klein, R. G. (eds.) Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution (Tucson, The University of Arizona Press, 1984)

Dargavel, John and Brenda Libbis (eds.), Australia's Ever-changing Forests V: Proceedings of the Fifth National Conference on Australian Forest History (Canberra: ANU, 2002).

Dargavel, John (ed.), Australia and New Zealand Forest Histories. Short Overviews, Australian Forest History Society Inc. Occasional Publications, No. 1 (Kingston: Australian Forest History Society, 2005)

Dovers, Stephen (ed), Essays in Australian Environmental History: Essays and Cases (Oxford: OUP, 1994).

Dovers, Stephen(ed.), Environmental History and Policy: Still Settling Australia (South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000).

Flannery, Tim, The Future Eaters, An Ecological History of the Australian Lands and People (Sydney: Reeed Books,1994).
See also the homepage of the ABC documentary series: http://www.abc.net.au/science/future/.

Garden, Don, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. An Environmental History (Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2005)

Hughes, J. Donald, "Nature and Culture in the Pacific Islands", Leidschrift, 21 (2006) 1, 129-144.

Hughes, J. Donald, "Tahiti, Hawaii, New Zealand: Polynesian impacts on Island Ecosystems", in: An Environmental History of the World. Humankind"s Changing Role in the Community of Life, (London & New York, Routledge, 2002)

McNeill, John R., "Of Rats and Men. A Synoptic Environmental History of the Island Pacific", Journal of World History, Vol. 5, no. 2, 299-349

Pyne, Stephen, Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia (New York, Henry Holt, 1991).

Robin, Libby, Defending the Little Desert: The Rise of Ecological Consciousness in Australia (Melbourne: MUP, 1998)

Robin, Libby, The Flight of the Emu: A Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001, (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000)

Robin, Libby, How a Continent Created a Nation (Sydney: Univeristy of New South Wales Press, 2007)

Smith, Mike, Hesse, Paul (eds.), 23 Degrees S: Archaeology and Environmental History of the Southern Deserts(Canberra: National Museum of Australia Press, 2005)

Star, Paul, "New Zealand Environmental History: A Question of Attitudes", Environment and History 9(2003): 463-475

Young, Ann R.M, Environmental Change in Australia since 1788 (Oxford University Press, 2000)

Young, David, Our Islands, Our Selves: A History of Conservation in New Zealand ( Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2004)

*For more literature on the Pacific Islands see the Bibliography section

 

Comparative and General

Chakrabarti, Ranjan (ed), Does Environmental History Matter: Shikar, Subsistence, Sustenance and the Sciences (Kolkata: Readers Service, 2006)

Chakrabarti, Ranjan (ed.), Situating Environmental History (New Delhi: Manohar, 2007)

Cronon, William (ed), Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1995)

Dunlap, Thomas R., Nature and the English Diaspora: Environment and History in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (New York/Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)

Glacken, Clarence, Traces on the Rhodian Shore: Nature and Culture in Western Thought From Ancient Times to the Endo of the Nineteenth Century (Berkely: University of California Press, 1967)

Griffiths, Tom and Libby Robin (eds.), Ecology and Empire: The Environmental History of Settler Societies (Keele: Keele University Press, 1997)

Grove, Richard, Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism, 1600-1860 (Cambridge University Press, 1995)

Hughes, J.D, An Environmental History of the World: Humankind's Changing Role in the Community of Life (Oxford: Routledge, 2001)

Hughes, J.D., "Global Environmental History: The Long View", Globalizations, Vol. 2 No. 3, 2005, 293-208.

MacKenzie, John M,, Imperialism and the Natural World (Manchester University Press, 1990)

McCormick, John, Reclaiming Paradise: The Global Environmental Movement (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989)

Rajan, Ravi S., Modernizing Nature: Forestry and Imperial Eco-Development 1800-1950 (Oxford: Oxford Universtiy Press, 2006)

Redclif, Michael R., Frontier: Histories of Civil Society and Nature (Cambridge, MA.: The MIT Press, 2006).

Stevis, Dimitris , "The Globalizations of the Environment", Globalizations, Vol. 2 No. 3, 2005, 323-334.

Williams, Michael, Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to Global Crisis. An Abridgement (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006)

Worster, Donald, Nature's Economy: A Study of Ecological Ideals (Cambridge University Press, 1977)

Zeilinga de Boer, Jelle and Donald Theodore Sanders, Volcanoes in Human History, The Far-reaching Effects of Major Eruptions (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002)