Exploring environmental history : selected essays

Exploring Environmental History is a collection of essays and papers which distil the professor's latter-day researches and reflections. They are characteristically acute and uncompromising. -- Roger Hutchinson Scottish Review of Books The modest title of this book gives little idea of the excitements that lie within... This is a memorable book, rich in scholarship and full of argument, and elegantly written... the brilliance of the essays must make 'Exploring Environmental History' a thoroughly worthwhile purchase or gift. -- Paul Ramsey Recorder News Christopher Smout is, in my opinion, the best environmental historian in Britain; indeed, he practically invented the term. He is worth being read by every conservationist, not just for his specialist knowledge, but also because he is extremely readable. It ought to be a commonplace view that, as he asserts, environmental problems can be understood properly only from a historical perspective. -- Peter Marren British Wildlife That the book should end with provoking thought in its readers cannot be anything but good and reinforces our sense of gratitude that these essays should exist and that the publishers should bring them all together. -- Ian Simmons, Emeritus Professor, University of Durham Environment and History Good, scholarly and accessible environmental history like this does carry with it empowerment, vision and the very necessary context (that Nature, like us, has a history) that can only benefit those charged in society and politics with planning our future. I will certainly be encouraging my undergraduate and postgraduate environmental history students to dip into this book: they are after all (whether they welcome it or not!) the next environmental generation. -- Rob Lambert Landscape History In the growing debate over future environmental choices, these essays constitute a powerful corrective to the extremes on both sides. -- Richard Oram, University of Stirling Scottish Historical Review Exploring Environmental History is a collection of essays and papers which distil the professor's latter-day researches and reflections. They are characteristically acute and uncompromising. The modest title of this book gives little idea of the excitements that lie within... This is a memorable book, rich in scholarship and full of argument, and elegantly written... the brilliance of the essays must make 'Exploring Environmental History' a thoroughly worthwhile purchase or gift. Christopher Smout is, in my opinion, the best environmental historian in Britain; indeed, he practically invented the term. He is worth being read by every conservationist, not just for his specialist knowledge, but also because he is extremely readable. It ought to be a commonplace view that, as he asserts, environmental problems can be understood properly only from a historical perspective. That the book should end with provoking thought in its readers cannot be anything but good and reinforces our sense of gratitude that these essays should exist and that the publishers should bring them all together. Good, scholarly and accessible environmental history like this does carry with it empowerment, vision and the very necessary context (that Nature, like us, has a history) that can only benefit those charged in society and politics with planning our future. I will certainly be encouraging my undergraduate and postgraduate environmental history students to dip into this book: they are after all (whether they welcome it or not!) the next environmental generation. In the growing debate over future environmental choices, these essays constitute a powerful corrective to the extremes on both sides. Read more...