Cities and Nature in the American West

by Miller, Char

• ISBN13: 9780874178241
• ISBN10: 087417824X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-28
• Publisher: Univ of Nevada Pr

Summary

In less than a century, the American West has changed from a predominantly rural region to one where most people live in its major metropolitan centers. Cities and Nature in the American West offers provocative analyses of this transformation, providing a deeper understanding of the complex processes by which the urban West has shaped and been shaped by its sustaining environment. The book considers how the West's urban development has altered the human experience and perception of nature; the politics of land and water use; and the challenges of environmental inequities. It also examines the cultural role of wilderness and the increasingly pervasive power of the West's urban areas and urbanites to redefine the very foundations and future of the American West. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Char Miller is W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis at Pomona College.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Into the West	p. 1
Land
Sweetening the Urban Marketplace: California's Hawaiian Outpost	p. 17
Crabgrass or Grapes: Urban Sprawl, Agricultural Persistence, and the Fight for the Napa Valley	p. 34
Natives' Return: LBJ'S Texas White House and Lady Bird's Wildflowers	p. 57
Water
Fishy Thinking: Salmon and the Persistence of History in Urban Environmental Politics	p. 73
One City, Two Rivers: Columbia and Willamette Rivers in the Environmental History of Twentieth-Century Portland, Oregon	p. 96
Private Water: The Curious Case of San Jose's Water Supply	p. 112
Campground
Performing Bears and Packaged Wilderness: Reframing the History of National Parks	p. 137
The Devil in the Cathedral: Sewage and Garbage in Yosemite National Park	p. 154
Sleeping Outside: The Political Natures of Urban Camping	p. 171
City
Boundary Issues: Clarifying New Orleans's Murky Edges	p. 195
The Nature and Business of War: Drilling for Oil in Wartime Los Angeles	p. 205
Stand by Your Brand: Vail, Colorado, and The Consumer Roots of Popular Environmentalism	p. 225
The Whole Earth Catalog, New Games, and Urban Environmentalism	p. 242
Escape to the West/Return to the East: The Lure of the City Familiar	p. 255
Contributors	p. 263
Index	p. 265
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