The Making of the American Landscape

by Conzen

• ISBN13: 9780415911788
• ISBN10: 0415911788
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1990-06-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This well-illustrated volume presents for the first time a fascinating and comprehensive view of the cultural evolution of the American landscape. Written by a team of leading scholars, the essays examine key historical forces in the settlement and human shaping of the land over the past 10,000 years, with an emphasis on the past three centuries. Through carefully chosen illustration, the book shows the reader how to "read" in today's landscape the record of this transformation. The major historical forces that shaped the American cultural landscape are viewed from the varied perspective of ethnic and cultural movements, environmetnal challenge and response, and urbanization. The contributors discuss a rich selection of themes including: the diverse influence of colonial powers on early settlement; the emergence of regional types of landscape; the impact of ideology on landscape; and the contributions of technological change to landscape development.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii	(4)
Acknowledgments	xi	(4)
Foreword	xv
DONALD W. MEINIG
Introduction	1	(8)
MICHAEL P. CONZEN
1 Nature's continent	9	(18)
STANLEY W. TRIMBLE
2 The Indian legacy in the American landscape	27	(24)
KARL W. BUTZER
3 Spanish legacy in the Borderlands	51	(12)
DAVID HORNBECK
4 French landscapes in North America	63	(17)
COLE HARRIS
5 The Northeast and the making of American geographical habits	80	(24)
PEIRCE F. LEWIS
6 Plantations and the moulding of the Southern landscape	104	(23)
SAM B. HILLIARD
7 Toward a national landscape	127	(19)
HILDEGARD BINDER JOHNSON
8 The clearing of the forests	146	(23)
MICHAEL WILLIAMS
9 Settlement of the American grassland	169	(17)
JOHN C. HUDSON
10 Challenging the desert	186	(18)
JAMES L. WESCOAT, Jr.
11 Democratic utopia and the American landscape	204	(17)
JAMES E. VANCE, Jr.
12 Ethnicity on the land	221	(28)
MICHAEL P. CONZEN
13 The new industrial order	249	(20)
DAVID R. MEYER
14 The Americanization of the city	269	(24)
EDWARD K. MULLER
15 Landscapes redesigned for the automobile	293	(18)
JOHN A. JAKLE
16 The imprint of central authority	311	(24)
WILBUR ZELINSKY
17 Landscapes of private power and wealth	335	(20)
WILLIAM K. WYCKOFF
18 The house in the vernacular landscape	355	(17)
JOHN BRINCKERHOFF JACKSON
Afterword	372	(4)
MICHAEL P. CONZEN
Contributors	376	(1)
Notes	377	(19)
Bibliography	396	(28)
Index	424