So Glorious a Landscape: Nature and the Environment in American History and Culture

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So Glorious a Landscape: Nature and the Environment in American History and Culture surveys the vast and interdisciplinary subject of American natural and environmental studies. It examines the literary landscape that has inspired a local, regional, and national sense of place; explores the dynamic meaning and significance of nature across time, place, culture, and gender; and looks at the essence and history of environmental change. The first all-encompassing introductory survey of environ-mental history and cultural studies, this volume provides students and scholars with carefully chosen selections from major essayists, naturalists, preachers, geographers, novelists, scientists, and historians whose works have shaped the fields of literary ecology and environmental history. The essays trace the changing American landscape and ideas about nature from the seventeenth century to the present. By analyzing a range of material, So Glorious a Landscape provides a fresh perspective on what nature is in American life, what forces have shaped its profound place and changing definition, and what the work of environmental historians tells about the relationship of nature, culture, and power in America. So Glorious a Landscape is an excellent resource for courses in American studies, environmental history, and American culture.

Reviews

As our national conversation centers increasingly on the use and abuse of the natural environment, it becomes crucial that environmental history provide the ballast for these debates. So Glorious a Landscape combines a vast array of pungent culturalcommentary with keen historical insight. The voices Professor Magoc has arranged here are the wellspring of American environmentalism. There is something in this volume for everyone concerned about the relationship Americans have had with their natural world. -- Keith Edgerton, Montana State University-Billings
This is a powerhouse of an anthology, only 300 pages but jam-packed with period documents that illustrate important facets of Americans' changing relationship with nature over the past four centuries, from the creation stories of native peoples to the modern environmental justice movement. Students of American environmental history and literature are sure to find selections that will catch their interest, while Chris Magocs chapter introductions and bibliographical essay reliably point them to more in-depth studies. -- David Glassberg, University of Massachusetts, Amherst