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Overview
Here is the story of the long interaction between humans, land, and climate in the American South. It is a tale of exploitation and erosion, of destruction, disease, and defeat, but also of the persistent search for knowledge and wisdom. It is a story whose villains were also its victims and sometimes its heroes. Ancient forces created the southern landscape, but, as Albert E. Cowdrey shows, humankind from the time of earliest habitation has been at work reshaping it. The southern Indians, far from being the "natural ecologists" of myth, radically transformed their environment by hunting and burning. Such patterns were greatly accelerated by the arrival of Europeans, who viewed the land as a commodity to be exploited for immediate economic benefit. Their greed and ignorance took a heavy toll on the land and all those it supported. Cowdrey documents not only the long decline but the painfully slow struggle to repair the damage of human folly. The eighteenth century saw widespread though ineffectual efforts to protect game and conserve the soil. In the nineteenth century the first hesitant steps were taken toward scientific flood control, forestry, wildlife protection, and improved medicine. In this century, the New Deal, the explosion in scientific knowledge, and the national environmental movement have spurred more rapid improvements. But the efforts to harness the South's great rivers, to save its wild species, and to avert serious environmental pollution have often had equivocal results.Editorials
From the Publisher
"If one's spirit is bound to the land in some southern past, this book will stir deep feeling." -- Georgia Historical Quarterly
"In this history, revised from a 1983 version, Albert Cowdrey fills a gap in the environmental history of the Americas." -- Mississippi Quarterly
"Cowdrey's excellent history of southern society and the southern environment affirms the importance of understanding the ways in which humans interact with their environment. This books is a must-read for students of southern history." -- Southern Historian
"A clear and pungent environmental history that has long been needed.... Should become the standard environmental history of the region." -- American Historical Review
John Opie
...[A tale] of hellbent, well-meaning, and confused hubris....important because Americans have largely ignored the environmetnal implications....Cowdrey insists that despite today's homogenization the South is a region which has always differed....[The book reminds] us that Americans are just beginning to comprehend the power of their geography...—Mississippi Quarterly