Product Description

A controversial, timely reassessment of the environmentalist agenda by outstanding historians, scientists, and critics. A controversial, timely reassessment of the environmentalist agenda by outstanding historians, scientists, and critics.

In a lead essay that powerfully states the broad argument of the book, William Cronon writes that the environmentalist goal of wilderness preservation is conceptually and politically wrongheaded. Among the ironies and entanglements resulting from this goal are the sale of nature in our malls through the Nature Company, and the disputes between working people and environmentalists over spotted owls and other objects of species preservation.

The problem is that we haven't learned to live responsibly in nature. The environmentalist aim of legislating humans out of the wilderness is no solution. People, Cronon argues, are inextricably tied to nature, whether they live in cities or countryside. Rather than attempt to exclude humans, environmental advocates should help us learn to live in some sustainable relationship with nature. It is our home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73152 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

From Library Journal
In this thought-provoking collection of essays edited by environmental historian Cronon, scholars such as Carolyn Merchant, Richard White, Kenneth Olwig, Donna Haraway, and others "contribute to an ongoing dialog about the environment." The book has its roots in an interdisciplinary seminar on "Reinventing Nature," held at the University of California, Irvine's Humanities Research Institute in 1994, and is similar in scope to another Reinventing Nature project entitled Reinventing Nature?: Responses to Postmodern Deconstructionism (Island Pr., 1995). This work explores our ideas of nature in a cultural context, for "if we hope for an environmentalism capable of explaining why people abuse the earth as they do, then the nature we study most become less natural and more cultural." By using materials such as photographs, advertisements, and paintings (termed "found objects" by Haraway) to stimulate fresh ways of viewing and responding to nature, the group has produced an enlightening work that challenges our very ideas of the natural world. Highly recommended.
S. Maret, Univ. of Colorado, Denver
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"An intellectually pathbreaking book."--Daniel J. Kevles

"The best kind of book, one that shocks the reader into entirely fresh ways of thinking."--Michael Pollan

About the Author
William Cronon is Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Customer Reviews

Rethinking is the right word
Being an environmentalist isn't just about enjoying the outdoors or recycling. This is an in depth study of the complex interactions between humans and our world and an examination of our historical and cultural relationship with our environment. In particular, I found the discussion of our meaning for the word and our concept of nature to be particularly enlightening. There is simply no place in the world that isn't touched by human impact and noone on the planet who isn't touched by our environment and what we do to it. A MUST for anyone serious about the study of environmental study.

the result of a year-long project in critical thinking
Cronan has done it again! This volume of essays critically examines the concept of wilderness, nature, and humanity's role in the modern world. Though the individual essays are somewhat uneven, the main theme of the book is clearly communicated, especially in Cronan's introductory piece. That is, that the concept of wilderness needs careful rethinking, particularly with our world nearing 10 billion persons.

Compilation
I returned this when I realized Prof. Cronon was the editor not the author. It's a collection of essays. I read a few. Not as good as Prof. Cronon can write.