American Environmental History

Catalog description

Designed especially for non-History majors, this course is an introduction to the history of human interactions with the environment in the United States. It examines how past human activities have depended on and interacted with the natural world. It also traces the shifting attitudes toward nature held by different Americans during various periods of their nation's history. Additionally, the course will chart how human attitudes and activities have worked together to reshape the American landscape. This course will not just offer students a survey of the history and environments of the United States from colonial times to the present, but will also present different ways of thinking about these subjects.