The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History

Writing the Columbia Guide to American Environmental History has afforded me the unique opportunity to review and synthesize developments and resources in this relatively new and dynamic field. Environmental history emerged out of 1960s concerns over the impacts of pesticides, population, urbanization, and technologies on the environment. Propelled by popular interest in the state of the environment following Earth Day 1970, many people began rethinking the relationships between the environment and academic fields such as history, ethics, political science, and economics. The American Society for Environmental History was founded in 1977, a year after the journal Environmental Review (subsequently called Environmental History Review), which merged with Forest History in 1996 to become the journal Environmental History. A second journal published in England, entitled Environment and History, was launched in 1995. As the field has continued to grow, articles pertaining to the history of the environment have appeared in many journals and magazines. The Columbia Guide to Environmental History presents a survey of the field that includes an overview of topics and themes, a compendium of persons, concepts, and laws, a chronology of major historical events, and a guide to additional resources. No book of this type can ever be complete in light of the many topics and resources that continue to emerge in the environmental history field, and difficult decisions have led to what is included in this volume.

Although the final product published here is my own, I would like to thank the many persons who have made substantial contributions to the

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