Losing Eden: An Environmental History of the American West

Historical narratives often concentrate on wars and politics while leaving out the central role and influence of the physical stage on which history is carried out.In Losing Eden, expert scholar and professor Sara Dant traces the environmental history and development of the American West and explains how the land has shaped and been shaped by the people who live there.

In a lively and accessible narrative, the text discusses the key events and topics in the environmental history of the American West, from the Beringia migration, Columbian Exchange, and federal territorial acquisition to post–WWII expansion, resource exploitation, and current climate change issues. It is structured around three important themes: balancing economic success and ecological destruction; avoiding the tragedy of the commons; and achieving sustainability. The text is the ideal supplement for a variety of college–level courses on US or environmental history and incorporates many student–friendly features, including definitions of key terms, suggested reading sections, and over 30 illustrations. Cohesive and compelling, Losing Eden recognizes the historical role of the natural world in the American West and provides important analysis on the continually evolving relationship between the land and its inhabitants.

Sara Dant is Professor of History at Weber State University, USA. Her work focuses on environmental politics in the United States with a particular emphasis on the creation and development of consensus and bipartisanism. She is the author of several prize–winning articles on western environmental politics and co–author of the two–volume Encyclopedia of American National Parks (2004). Her recent articles cover a wide range of environmental topics, including LBJ, Wilderness, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund, Going with the Flow: Navigating to Stream Access Consensus, and Field Notes: Brigham Young s All the People Quote Quandary.