Nature in American History ((4 Credits))

Catalog description

This course explores the history of changing relationships between American culture and its environment, as that relationship has been manifest physically as well as conceptually. Students will gain familiarity with the main eras and episodes of American history as they relate to American culture’s grounding in nature: the European encounter with a (supposedly) virgin wilderness; the rapid exploitation of resources that accompanied westward and industrial expansion; the closing of the frontier and the development of resource conservationism; continued industrialization of the nature-culture relationship through nearly a century of war; the modern tension between economics and a concern for ecological health and balance. This course was previously HIS-243544 Nature in American History.