Nature

'Nature' is a deceptively simple and ahistorical term, suggestingintrinsic, unchanging reality. Yet nature has a history too, bothin terms of human attitudes and human impacts. Coates outlines themajor understandings of 'nature' in the western world sinceclassical times, from nature as higher authority to its more recentmeaning of threatened physical space and life forms.
Unlike many others, this book places the history of attitudes tonature within the story of human-induced changes in the materialenvironment. And few others take a supranational perspective, orcross the divides between historical eras.
A distinctive unifying theme is Coates's interest in how 'green'writers over the last thirty years have interpreted our pastdealings with nature, specifically their efforts to diagnose theroots of contemporary ecological problems and their search forancestors. He concludes with a discussion of the future of naturein the context of developments such as the 'new' ecology, globalwarming, advances in genetic engineering and research on animalbehaviour.
Assuming no previous knowledge, Nature provides the readerwith an accessible synthesis and introduction to some ofenvironmental history's central features and debates, confirmingits status as one of the most enthralling current pursuits withinhistorical studies.
This will be essential reading for second-year undergraduates andabove in cultural history and environmental history, as well as tothe general reader interested in environmental issues.