Environmental history: Rising subdiscipline
Description
Environmental history is a new subdiscipline in history. The goals of this survey are to show the varieties of environmental history, to discern the point of view which makes the field unique, to identify some of its past and present practitioners, and to suggest future lines of development. The introductory chapter is followed by, 'Historians of the American West,' 'The Annales School,' 'Independent Efforts and Current Issues,' 'Emergence of a Subdiscipline,' and 'A Proposal and an Explanation.' Environmental history is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the effect of the physical environment on man, the impact of man on nature, the history of nature, and the impact of man on man. The central proposition of environmental history is that man responds to the opportunities and limitations offered by the environment. Man acts in the context of geography, climate, flora, and fauna. Environmental history identifies the parameters within which human actions take place and emphasizes the role of environmental factors in historical events. Man is part of a complex ecosystem, he does not operate in a vacuum. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)