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Conflicted American Landscapes by David E. Nye

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Conflicted American Landscapes

By David E. Nye

By David E. Nye

By David E. Nye

By David E. Nye

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Paperback $35.00

Apr 27, 2021 | ISBN 9780262542081

Ebook $25.99

Apr 27, 2021 | ISBN 9780262362146

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    Conflicted American Landscapes by David E. Nye
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    About Conflicted American Landscapes

    How conflicting ideas of nature threaten to fracture America’s identity.

    Amber waves of grain, purple mountain majesties: American invest much of their national identity in sites of natural beauty. And yet American lands today are torn by conflicts over science, religion, identity, and politics. Creationists believe that the Biblical flood carved landscapes less than 10,000 years ago; environmentalists protest pipelines; Western states argue that the federal government’s land policies throttle free enterprise; Native Americans demand protection for sacred sites. In this book, David Nye looks at Americans’ irreconcilably conflicting ideas about nature.

    A landscape is conflicted when different groups have different uses for the same location—for example, when some want to open mining sites that others want to preserve or when suburban development impinges on agriculture. Some landscapes are so degraded from careless use that they become toxic “anti-landscapes.” Nye traces these conflicts to clashing conceptions of nature—ranging from pastoral to Native American to military–industrial—that cannot be averaged into a compromise. Nye argues that today’s environmental crisis is rooted in these conflicting ideas about land. Depending on your politics, global warming is either an inconvenient truth or fake news. America’s contradictory conceptions of nature are at the heart of a broken national consensus.
     

    About Conflicted American Landscapes

    How conflicting ideas of nature threaten to fracture America’s identity.

    Amber waves of grain, purple mountain majesties: American invest much of their national identity in sites of natural beauty. And yet American lands today are torn by conflicts over science, religion, identity, and politics. Creationists believe that the Biblical flood carved landscapes less than 10,000 years ago; environmentalists protest pipelines; Western states argue that the federal government’s land policies throttle free enterprise; Native Americans demand protection for sacred sites. In this book, David Nye looks at Americans’ irreconcilably conflicting ideas about nature.

    A landscape is conflicted when different groups have different uses for the same location—for example, when some want to open mining sites that others want to preserve or when suburban development impinges on agriculture. Some landscapes are so degraded from careless use that they become toxic “anti-landscapes.” Nye traces these conflicts to clashing conceptions of nature—ranging from pastoral to Native American to military–industrial—that cannot be averaged into a compromise. Nye argues that today’s environmental crisis is rooted in these conflicting ideas about land. Depending on your politics, global warming is either an inconvenient truth or fake news. America’s contradictory conceptions of nature are at the heart of a broken national consensus.
     

    Also by David E. Nye

    American Illuminations
    The Environmental Humanities
    America's Assembly Line
    When the Lights Went Out
    Technology Matters
    See all books by David E. Nye

    Also by David E. Nye

    American Illuminations
    The Environmental Humanities
    America's Assembly Line
    When the Lights Went Out
    Technology Matters
    See all books by David E. Nye

    Product Details

    Category: Domestic Politics | Science

    Paperback | $35.00
    Published by The MIT Press
    Apr 27, 2021 | 280 Pages | 6 x 9 | ISBN 9780262542081

    Category: Domestic Politics | Science

    Ebook | $25.99
    Published by The MIT Press
    Apr 27, 2021 | 280 Pages | 6 x 9 | ISBN 9780262362146

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    Praise

    “A well-argued account of how different constituencies view landscapes differently, making agreement on their conservation and use nearly impossible.” — Kirkus Reviews

    Table Of Contents

    Acknowledgements
    1. The Problem
    2. The Once Dominant American Discourse on Nature
    3. Detroit’s River Rouge: The Limits of Utilitarianism
    4. Natural Bridges: Conflicts of Meaning
    5. Discovering the Colorado River: Beyond Use Value
    6. Grand Canyon, 1870-1940: Sublime Geology
    7. Skyscraper and Skyline: Utilitarian Sublime
    8. Nuclear Anti-Landscapes
    9. Grand Canyon since 1945: Ephemeral Anthropocene
    10. Conflicted Landscapes
    11. Pragmatic Solutions
    Notes
    Bibliography
    Index

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