Environmental Issues in American History

Chris J. Magoc is Associate Professor of History at Mercyhurst College. From his childhood in Tarentum, PA, to his work in the 1980s with conservation organizations in the West, to his current leadership of the Mercyhurst College Green Team, Magoc has had a life-long passion for environmental issues. He is the author of Yellowstone: The Creation and Selling of An American Landscape, 1870-1903 and So Glorious a Landscape: Nature and the Environment in American History and Culture.

Controversy surrounding environmental issues is not a recent development in American history. Since the time of the early settlers, issues concerning the environment have plagued certain groups of Americans. In this exhaustively researched study, primary documents support different sides of various questions, such as the use of water as an energy source, deforestation, gold mining in California, and the emergence of wildlife conservation. High school and college students will not only find this book extremely comprehensive, but will also find its heated discussions exceptionally engaging.Some of the major topics covered include differences between the way Native Americans and early settlers treated the land, The Land Ordinance of 1785, Thomas Jefferson's views about the land, the commercial progress of New England river valleys, establishing the Adirondack Forest Preserve in 1885, Theodore Roosevelt's thoughts on forest conservation, the pros and cons of hydraulic gold mining, the near-extinction of the North American bison, andThe Lacey ActMagoc's book will prove an essential asset for all American history students.

Are humans part of the natural world, or is the natural world humankind's to subject and exploit? These seemingly unreconcilable beliefs drive the debate over man's proper role in nature and use, or abuse, of nature and its bounty.

Series Foreword by Randall M. MillerPreface and AcknowledgmentsChronology of Events1. Introduction2. Nature as a Commodity: Native Americans, White Settlers, and the Land Ordinance of 17853. Controlling Water in the Early Industrialization of New England4. Scientific Forestry and the Emergence of Conservation5. Property Rights, Technology, and Environmental Protection: Hydraulic Gold Minersv.Farmers in California6. Wildlife Conservation: Slaughter and Salvation of the Bison7. "Reclaiming" the Arid West8. Preservation vs. Conservation: The Epic Fight over Yosemite's Hetch-Hetchy Valley9. Progressive Women and "Municipal Housekeeping": Caroline Bartlett Crane's Fight for Improved Meat Inspection10. Getting the Lead Out: Public Health and the Debate over Tetraethyl Leaded Gasoline11. Causes and Consequences of the Dust Bowl12. The Donora Disaster and the Problem of Air Pollution13. Rachel Carson, Cesar Chavez, and the Pesticide Debate14. Love Canal and the Grassroots Movement Against Toxic Waste15. The Endangered Species Act: The Rights of Nature?16. Three Mile Island and the Search for a National Energy PolicySelected BibliographyIndex