Evolutionary History
Uniting History and Biology to Understand Life on Earth
Published on 11. April 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-0-521-74509-3 (ISBN)
Description
We tend to see history and evolution springing from separate roots, one grounded in the human world and the other in the natural world. Human beings have, however, become probably the most powerful species shaping evolution today, and human-caused evolution in other species has probably been the most important force shaping human history. This book introduces readers to evolutionary history, a new field that unites history and biology to create a fuller understanding of the past than either can produce on its own. Evolutionary history can stimulate surprising new hypotheses for any field of history and evolutionary biology. How many art historians would have guessed that sculpture encouraged the evolution of tuskless elephants? How many biologists would have predicted that human poverty would accelerate animal evolution? How many military historians would have suspected that plant evolution would convert a counter-insurgency strategy into a rebel subsidy? With examples from around the globe, this book will help readers see the broadest patterns of history and the details of their own life in a new light.
Reviews / Votes
'This is not a traditional monograph. Instead, Evolutionary History reads like a well-written how-to manual. And in this case, the instruction is how to enlarge the scope of historical study to include evolutionary processes. Too often and for too long, scholars have held that human history and natural evolution sprung from separate roots and occurred in separate realms. Russell's two-part counter to this illustrates how humans shaped evolution in profound ways and how these changes have, in turn, altered the course of world history.' Environmental HistoryMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
4 Tables, unspecified; 5 Halftones, unspecified; 6 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
396 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-74509-3 (9780521745093)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
04/2011
Cambridge University Press
€135.80
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
01/2011
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€21.99
Available for download
Person
Edmund Russell is the Hall Distinguished Professor of US History at the University of Kansas. He works primarily in environmental history and the history of technology. He is the author of War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring (Cambridge University Press, 2001), and co-editor, with Richard Tucker, of Natural Enemy, Natural Ally: Toward an Environmental History of War (2004). Russell's work has won the Edelstein Prize of the Society for the History of Technology, the Rachel Carson Prize, and the Leopold-Hidy Prize of the American Society for Environmental History and the Forum for the History of Science in America.
Content
1. Matters of life and death; 2. Evolution's visible hands; 3. Hunting and fishing; 4. Eradication; 5. Altering environments; 6. Evolution revolution; 7. Intentional evolution; 8. Co-evolution; 9. Evolution of the industrial revolution; 10. History of technology; 11. Environmental history; 12. Conclusion; Glossary.