From wilderness to environment [Elektronische Ressource] : the role of nature in western American history from Frederick Jackson Turner to Donald Worster and the new western history / Mark Schiffhauer

Mark Billingham

Informations

• Publié par: philipps-universitat_marburg
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 35
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Cover Illustration: Wolfgang Büchs, www.wbworks.de
Cover Design: idealclima, www.idealclima.de






















For my parents


















ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS



I would like to thank Professor Volker Bischoff of the American Studies department at Philipps-
University Marburg for supporting me with his academic advice and guidance; Dr. Nader Maleki
for giving me time when I needed it; Phil Olson for always encouraging me to do this; my wife
Katja for all her support and patience; and my parents Paul and Marita for everything.

CONTENTS

0. Introduction 1


I. From Wilderness to Environment – Western American History’s
First Century 7

I.1 Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis and the Birth of Western
American History 17

I.2 Between Tradition and Reorientation: Western American History
after Turner 34

I.3 The American Environmental Movement, Environmental History,
and the Revival of Western American History 55


II. The Revision of the American West in the New Western History 69

II.1 The New Western History: Emergence, Issues, and Agenda 69

II.2 The New Western History as Environmental History 91

II.3 The New Western History and Its Critics: Summary of a Debate 110


III. Case Study:
Donald Worster’s Environmental Theory of the American West 129

III.1 ‘Antimaterialistic Materialism:’
Donald Worster’s Theory of American Capitalism 129

III.2 The Hydraulic Mode of Production:
Donald Woster’s Theory of Water and Power in the West 142

III.3 The Pastoral Mode of Production:
Donald Worster’s Criticism of American Agriculture on the Great Plains 174


IV. The Order of Nature: Problematizing Donald Worster’s Concept of
‘Nature’ in the Context of Postmodernism and Ecology 207


V. Conclusion 237

Bibliography 258

About the Author 311




“The history of any land begins with nature,
and all histories must end with nature.”


Frank J. Dobie
Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest