HISTORY 5326 — SPRING 2008
American Environmental History
Dr. Mark Stoll
HH 135
742-1004 ext. 250
mark.stoll@ttu.edu
http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/stoll
Office hours: Tuesday 11:00-1:00 and
Thursday 8:30-9:30
and by appointment
This course is a graduate level introduction to significant scholarship in American environmental history, from the pre-colonial era to the present. We will meet for weekly discussions, focusing on historical interpretations, themes, and conceptualizations, with special attention to sources, argumentation, and methods employed in research and exposition. By the end of the semester you will have a solid foundation in the field.
I have carefully selected readings to cover major themes in the American environmental historiography, to expose you to representative works of important scholars, and in sum to constitute a very good starter or reference library of environmental history for your bookshelf. Everyone will read all assigned works with care and critical attention, coming to class ready to engage in active discussion. In reading, seek out the book or article's key thesis (and be able to summarize it in a few sentences). Also, you should be alert to its structure and rhetoric, note the claims made for advances over previous studies (relationship to the "literature"), and sketch out the conceptual or theoretical apparatus employed (identifying "keywords" and the ways they are employed). Finally, you should assess the work's evidentiary base, the scope and scale of the study within the context of the issues and events it addresses, and its relationship with other aspects of American history. Analysis of the book in this way prepares you for critical discussion and clear writing. Ideally you should each come to class with several questions written out for us to address as a group; I will have a sizable list of such questions as well, so we should have ample resources to work from.
Book reviews can aid the reading process. Look for them especially in such major
journals as the Journal of
American History, American Historical Review, Reviews in American History, and H-Net (Humanities Online), along with
such specialized journals as
Environmental History and
Environment and History. You can access on-line and hardcopy indexes
to journal articles at the library, and many of
these journals are available through the Internet or the library Website,
particularly through the databases
America: History and Life and
ArticleFirst.
Book Review Digest is a more general but often useful resource that is available via the "Find
Articles" link on the library homepage. An excellent
resource for older books is
JSTOR.
The structure of the course centers on a core book each week, fourteen monographs in all. Each week we will spend the first two-thirds of our time (roughly 6:00-7:40) critically assessing the core study. Following a 15-minute break, one student will present a summary and critique of a second, supplementary work (20-25 minutes). Then we will close with comparative comments and thoughts on research initiatives this discussion has opened up.
About half of the presentation should tell about the book and its contents, while the other half should deal with the book's context in the author's life and work and in its time period, and its greater significance. I highly recommend that students practice their presentations before class, to make sure that the presentation is strong and fits within the time allotted.
We start on January 9 with introductions to each other and to the course. Then on January 16 we will begin with the first book, by Jared Diamond. The number of presentations will depend on the number of students signed up: if less than 7, each will do two; if more, each will do one. The total number of presentations then will vary. You will sign up for a second book on the first day of class.
To promote discussions of substance, each student will write notes over the week's reading (not required of the second book, however). These notes should cover important contents and points each week's book makes, as well as many of the points mentioned above in connection with reading strategies. Add comments and arguments of your own as they occur to you during the reading. Students will then hand in a copy of their notes each week. Your notes are not a polished paper, but rather they demonstrate to me your understanding of and interaction with the text. Grading of the notes will be on that basis. Also, the notes do not need to be extensive or many pages long to do the job.
Each student will write one paper over one of the books he or she chose to present in class. The paper will discuss the book's main argument or purpose, its historical context, its author and his or her significance, and the its reception, impact, and place in the literature of religion and American history. Students should consult reviews, a biography or similar secondary source on the author or book, articles, and other secondary literature to construct this paper of 8 to 16 pages in length. The primary goal is the fullest possible expansion of the work's significance.
Use 12-point Times Roman or Times New Roman, double-spaced, with 1" margins all around, or 1-1/4" margins right and left, with page numbers in the margin. Footnotes and bibliography should conform to Turabian standards. Turabian's Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations is widely available at most bookstores and in the reference section of libraries.
The book paper will be due in class THREE WEEKS AFTER YOUR PRESENTATION, or the last day of class, whichever comes first. Students may rewrite their papers for a better grade, if they so desire. Rewrites are due two weeks after the graded paper is returned, or on the last day of finals, whichever comes first.
Grades for this course will be based 30% on your book paper, 40% on your notes, 10% on your presentation, and 20% on your contributions to class discussion. For double presenters, the proportions will be 30, 30, 20, and 20.
 | Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel |
| Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind |
| Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature |
| Elliott West, The Contested Plains |
| Donald Worster, Rivers of Empire |
| William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis |
| Peter Coates, American Perceptions of Immigrant and Invasive Species: Strangers on the Land |
| William Cronon, ed., Uncommon Ground |
| Virginia J. Scharff, ed. Seeing Nature Through Gender |
| Kimberly Smith, African American Environmental Thought |
| Andrew Hurley, Environmental Inequalities: Class, Race, and Industrial Pollution in Gary, Indiana, 1945-1980 |
| Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside |
| Dan Flores, The Natural West: Environmental History in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains |
| Ted Steinberg, Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America |
| Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer |
| Henry David Thoreau, Walden |
| Susan Fenimore Cooper, Rural Hours |
| George Perkins Marsh, Man and Nature |
| John Muir, The Mountains of California; or The Yosemite; or My First Summer in the Sierra |
| John Wesley Powell, Canyons of the Colorado, republished as Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons |
| William Temple Hornaday, Our Vanishing Wildlife |
| Henry Beston, The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod |
| Loren Eiseley, The Immense Journey |
| Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us |
| Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek |
| Dave Foreman, Confessions of an Eco-Warrior |
| Gary Snyder, Practice of the Wild |
| Al Gore, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit |
| Jan 9 | Introduction |
| Jan 16 | Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel |
| Jan 23 | Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind Second book: Kenna Lang, John Muir |
| Jan 30 | Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature |
| Feb 6 | Elliott West, The Contested Plains Second book: Judd Burton, John Wesley Powell, Canyons of the Colorado |
| Feb 13 | Donald Worster, Rivers of Empire Second book: Aaron Riley, William Temple Hornaday, Our Vanishing Wildlife |
| Feb 20 | William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis Second book: Melody Brannon, Henry David Thoreau, Walden |
| Feb 27 |
William Cronon, ed., Uncommon Ground Second book: Lori Miller, Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us |
| Mar 5 | Virginia J. Scharff, ed. Seeing Nature Through Gender Second book: Kenna Lang, Susan Fenimore Cooper, Rural Hours |
| Mar 12 | Peter Coates, American Perceptions of Immigrant and
Invasive Species Second book: Owen Brolsma, Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer |
| Mar 19 | SPRING BREAK |
| Mar 25 | Kimberly Smith, African American Environmental
Thought Second book: Lori Miller, Gary Snyder, Practice of the Wild |
| Apr 2 | Andrew Hurley,
Environmental Inequalities Second book: Aaron Riley, Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek |
| Apr 9 | Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside Second book: Judd Burton, George Perkins Marsh, Man and Nature |
| Apr 16 | Dan Flores, The Natural West Second book: Melody Brannon, Loren Eiseley, The Immense Journey |
| Apr 23 | Ted Steinberg, Acts of God Second book: Owen Brolsma, Henry Beston, The Outermost House |
Americans With Disabilities Act: Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make necessary accommodations. Students should present appropriate verification for Disabled Students Services, Dean of Students Office.
The professor reserves the right to change this syllabus at his discretion. Changes will be announced in class and posted at the Web address listed above.
This page was last updated on Wednesday January 23, 2008 05:41 PM.