The Republic of Nature

An Environmental History of the United States

Mark Fiege
Foreword by William Cronon

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• Published: April 2012
• Subject Listing: Environmental History
• Bibliographic information: 600 pp., 58 illus., 6 maps, notes, bibliog., index, 6 x 9 in.
• Territorial rights: World
• Series: Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books
• Contents

In the dramatic narratives that comprise The Republic of Nature, Mark Fiege reframes the canonical account of American history based on the simple but radical premise that nothing in the nation's past can be considered apart from the natural circumstances in which it occurred. Revisiting historical icons so familiar that schoolchildren learn to take them for granted, he makes surprising connections that enable readers to see old stories in a new light.

Among the historical moments revisited here, a revolutionary nation arises from its environment and struggles to reconcile the diversity of its people with the claim that nature is the source of liberty. Abraham Lincoln, an unlettered citizen from the countryside, steers the Union through a moment of extreme peril, guided by his clear-eyed vision of nature's capacity for improvement. In Topeka, Kansas, transformations of land and life prompt a lawsuit that culminates in the momentous civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education.

By focusing on materials and processes intrinsic to all things and by highlighting the nature of the United States, Fiege recovers the forgotten and overlooked ground on which so much history has unfolded. In these pages, the nation's birth and development, pain and sorrow, ideals and enduring promise come to life as never before, making a once-familiar past seem new. The Republic of Nature points to a startlingly different version of history that calls on readers to reconnect with fundamental forces that shaped the American experience.

"Mark Fiege has written a book so original and so necessary that a reader can be excused for being both astonished and wondering why no one has written a book like this before. It is easy to say that human history never takes place outside the natural world; it is quite another thing to write a history that demonstrates it with the subtlety and grace Mark Fiege does in The Republic of Nature." - Richard White, author of Railroaded

"Like the most excellent histories, The Republic of Nature demands readers see what was once familiar - Gettysburg, the Salem Witch Trials, and other iconic moments in the American past - in a radically new way, demonstrated with such force that there can be no return to the old narrative. But this book is better than excellent. It is truly brilliant, for Mark Fiege offers us an equally persuasive reorientation of the practice of history itself. It's not just about rewriting the stories; it's about fundamentally rewiring the way we see the past." - Philip Deloria, University of Michigan

"A thoughtful, thought-provoking, and beautifully written book. The Republic of Nature is sure to be a watershed title for environmental historians and open up a necessary - and long overdue - dialogue with other fields of American history." - Karl Jacoby, Brown University

"In a world in which thousands of pundits and commentators send a steady barrage of condemnation at American education, Mark Fiege has offered every teacher of American history a valuable gift: a remedy for the fragmentation of subfields and the lack of cohesion of specialized research. American citizens who went to school before their teachers could draw on this wonderful and moving book need not regret their timing. For general readers, The Republic of Nature offers a thoroughly engaging intellectual adventure." - Patty Limerick, author of The Legacy of Conquest

"This is surely among the most important works of environmental history published since the field was founded four or more decades ago. No book before it has so compellingly demonstrated the value of applying environmental perspectives to historical events that at first glance may seem to have little to do with 'nature' or 'the environment.' No one who cares about the American past can afford to ignore what Fiege has to say." - from the Foreword by William Cronon

Mark Fiege is a professor of history at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. He is the author of Irrigated Eden: The Making of an Agricultural Landscape in the American West.

For more information, visit the author's website: http://republicofnature.com/

Foreword
Environmental History Comes of Age by William Cronon

Land of Lincoln

1 Satan in the Land
Nature, the Supernatural, and Disorder in Colonial New England

2 By the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God
Declaring American Independence

3 King Cotton
The Cotton Plant and Southern Slavery

4 Nature’s Nobleman
Abraham Lincoln and the Improvement of America

5 The Nature of Gettysburg
Environmental History and the Civil War

6 Iron Horses
Nature and the Building of the First U.S. Transcontinental Railroad

7 Atomic Sublime
Toward a Natural History of the Bomb

8 The Road to Brown v. Board
An Environmental History of the Color Line

9 It’s a Gas
The United States and the Oil Shock of 1973–1974
Paths That Beckon

Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Illustration Credits
Index