Showing results for "The State of Nature" in History

This beautiful literary collection explores the spectacular natural features of Yosemite through the eyes of some of the most extraordinarily talented writers. In 1851, Lafayette Bunnell chronicled his travels with the Mariposa Battalion, the first non-natives to visit Yosemite Valley. Following in his footsteps, Theodore Roosevelt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Clarence King, Frederick Law Olmsted, Joaquin Miller, and Horace Greeley made their pilgrimages and were moved to recount their observations. Included here as well is the work of John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club.

In this groundbreaking work, William Cronon gives us an environmental perspective on the history of nineteenth-century America. By exploring the ecological and economic changes that made Chicago America's most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland, Mr. Cronon opens a new window onto our national past. This is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.

Where did the ideas come from that became the cornerstone of American democracy? Not only the erudite Thomas Jefferson, the wily and elusive Ben Franklin, and the underappreciated Thomas Paine, but also Ethan Allen, the hero of the Green Mountain Boys, and Thomas Young, the forgotten Founder who kicked off the Boston Tea Party. These radicals who founded America set their sights on a revolution of the mind. Derided as "infidels" and "atheists" in their own time, they wanted to liberate us not just from one king but from the tyranny of supernatural religion.

John Muir was an early proponent of a view we still hold today—that much of California was pristine, untouched wilderness before the arrival of Europeans. But as this book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning.

Yellowstone is America's premier national park. Today Yellowstone is often a byword for conservation, natural beauty, and a way for everyone to enjoy the great outdoors. But it was not always this way. Wonderlandscape presents a new perspective on Yellowstone, the emotions that various natural wonders and attractions evoke, and how this explains the park's relationship to America as a whole.

First Nations peoples and Native Americans in North America have long believed in the power of spirit animals or totems. They believed that these animals had lessons to teach and healing or inspirational powers. Wayne Arthurson delves into the world of spirit animals and shows the meanings of these animals to Native peoples and how nature has made its mark on their world.

The Tensaw River introduces one of the American South's richest and most fertile natural features. Author Mike Bunn is director of Historic Blakeley State Park, which is nestled in a prominent bend of the majestic Tensaw River.

A journey celebrating and telling the stories of the unsung heroes of our public lands, America's State Parks.

In 1995 wolves had been eradicated from the Western U.S. That’s when the Federal Government undertook its most ambitious, controversial wildlife project yet: bring wolves back to the Rocky Mountains. Host Heath Druzin and reporter Clark Corbin take listeners on an immersive journey into wolf country, tracking 30 years of wolf reintroduction in the U.S. They talk to the people who endured death hearts, gun shots and frostbite to help spark one of nature’s greatest comebacks. Thousands of wolves now roam across eight Western states. But a new war on wolves is brewing, threatening to turn ...

More than ever before, we have an opportunity to invest in a sustainable future for WA. The coronavirus pandemic is expected to put as many as 64,000 Western Australians out of work and an economic downturn is underway. That’s why Clean State has worked with industry experts from across WA to develop a plan for over 200,000 jobs that will also deliver action on climate change, conservation, and the care economy. This is the Clean State Jobs Plan.The Clean State WA podcast is produced and hosted by Anthony James, Perth-based creator of The RegenNarration podcast. For more stories of ...