Compiled by Paul S. Sutter, an associate professor of history at UGA, and Christopher J. Manganiello, a doctoral candidate in history at UGA, Environmental History and the American South: A Reader gathers in one place 15 of the most important essays written in the field of Southern environmental history over the past decade.
Ideal for course use, the volume provides a convenient entrée into the recent literature on the region as it indicates the variety of directions in which the field is growing.
The writings, which range in setting from the Texas plains to the Carolina Lowcountry, address topics such as husbandry practices in the Chesapeake colonies and the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. The contributors’ varied disciplinary perspectives—including agricultural history, geography, the history of science, the history of technology, military history, colonial American history, urban and regional planning history, and ethnohistory—also point to the field’s vitality. Conveying the breadth, diversity and liveliness of this maturing area of study, Environmental History and the American South affirms the critical importance of human-environmental interactions to the history and culture of the region.