Controversy surrounding environmental issues is not a recent development in American history. Since the time of the early settlers, issues concerning the environment have plagued certain groups of Americans. In this exhaustively researched study, primary documents support different sides of various questions, such as the use of water as an energy source, deforestation, gold mining in California, and the emergence of wildlife conservation. High school and college students will not only find this book extremely comprehensive, but will also find its heated discussions exceptionally engaging.Some of the major topics covered include differences between the way Native Americans and early settlers treated the land, The Land Ordinance of 1785, Thomas Jefferson's views about the land, the commercial progress of New England river valleys, establishing the Adirondack Forest Preserve in 1885, Theodore Roosevelt's thoughts on forest conservation, the pros and cons of hydraulic gold mining, the near-extinction of the North American bison, andThe Lacey ActMagoc's book will prove an essential asset for all American history students.


Chris J. Magoc is Associate Professor of History at Mercyhurst College. From his childhood in Tarentum, PA, to his work in the 1980s with conservation organizations in the West, to his current leadership of the Mercyhurst College Green Team, Magoc has had a life-long passion for environmental issues. He is the author of Yellowstone: The Creation and Selling of An American Landscape, 1870-1903 and So Glorious a Landscape: Nature and the Environment in American History and Culture.