
Exploring Environmental History
Selected Essays
T. C. Smout(Author)
Edinburgh University Press
Published on 16. August 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-7486-4561-9 (ISBN)
Description
This volume, newly available in paperback, brings together the best of T. C. Smout's recent articles and contributions to books and journals on the topic of environmental history and offers them as a collection of 'explorations'. The author's interests are multi-faceted and, though often focussed on post-1600 Scotland, by no means restricted to that area.
Reviews / Votes
Christopher Smout is, in my opinion, the best environmental historian in Britain; indeed, he practically invented the term. He is worth being read by every conservationist, not just for his specialist knowledge, but also because he is extremely readable. It ought to be a commonplace view that, as he asserts, environmental problems can be understood properly only from a historical perspective. -- Peter Marren * British Wildlife * That the book should end with provoking thought in its readers cannot be anything but good and reinforces our sense of gratitude that these essays should exist and that the publishers should bring them all together. -- Ian Simmons, Emeritus Professor, University of Durham * Environment and History * Good, scholarly and accessible environmental history like this does carry with it empowerment, vision and the very necessary context (that Nature, like us, has a history) that can only benefit those charged in society and politics with planning our future. I will certainly be encouraging my undergraduate and postgraduate environmental history students to dip intothis book: they are after all (whether they welcome it or not!) the next environmental generation. -- Rob Lambert * Landscape History * Good, scholarly and accessible environmental history like this does carry with it empowerment, vision and the very necessary context (that Nature, like us, has a history) that can only benefit those charged in society and politics with planning our future. I will certainly be encouraging my undergraduate and postgraduate environmental history students to dip intothis book: they are after all (whether they welcome it or not!) the next environmental generation. -- Rod Lambert * Landscape History * The modest title of this book gives little idea of the excitements that lie within... This is a memorable book, rich in scholarship and full of argument, and elegantly written... the brilliance of the essays must make 'Exploring Environmental History' a thoroughly worthwhile purchase or gift. -- Paul Ramsey * Recorder News * The modest title of this book gives little idea of the excitements that liewithin... This is a memorable book, rich in scholarship and full ofargument, and elegantly written... the brilliance of the essays must make'Exploring Environmental History' a thoroughly worthwhile purchase or gift. -- Paul Ramsey * Recorder News * In the growing debate over future environmental choices, these essays constitute a powerful corrective to the extremes on both sides. -- Richard Oram, University of Stirling * Scottish Historical Review * Exploring Environmental History is a collection of essays and papers which distil the professor's latter-day researches and reflections. They are characteristically acute and uncompromising. -- Roger Hutchinson * Scottish Review of Books *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
13 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
445 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7486-4561-9 (9780748645619)
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

E-Book
08/2011
Edinburgh University Press
€25.49
Available for download
Person
T. C. Smout is Historiographer Royal in Scotland.
Content
Acknowledgements; List of Maps, Figures and Tables; List of Illustrations; Introduction; Chapter One: The Environmental Historiography of Britain; Chapter Two: The Highlands and the Roots of Green Consciousness; Chapter Three: Exploiting Scottish Semi-natural Woods, 1600-1990; Chapter Four: The Pinewoods and Human Use, 1600-1900; Chapter Five: The Atlantic Oakwoods as a Commercial Crop in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries; Chapter Six: Bogs and People in Scotland since 1600; Chapter Seven: Energy Rich, Energy Poor: Scotland, Ireland and Iceland, 1600-1800; Chapter Eight: Improvers and the Scottish Environment: Soils, Bogs and Woods; Chapter Nine: Trees as Historic Landscapes: from Wallace's Oak to Reforesting Scotland; Chapter Ten: The Alien Species in Twentieth-Century Britain: Inventing a New Vermin; Chapter Eleven: Modern Agriculture and the Decline of British Biodiversity; Chapter Twelve: History, Nature and Culture in British Nature Conservation; Chapter Thirteen: Environmental Consciousness; Select Bibliography.