Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Nature and History in the Potomac Country: From Hunter-Gatherers to the Age of Jefferson by James D. Rice (review)

Nature and History in the Potomac Country: From Hunter-Gatherers to the Age of Jefferson by James... Book Reviews 123 Nature and History in the Potomac Country: From Hunter-Gatherers to the Age of Jefferson . By James D. Rice. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009. Pp. xvi, 338.) Much like the work of environmental histories from the late twentieth cen- tury, Rice’s second book connects the regional history of the Potomac River to the ecological interactions of human residents to the development of the re- gion. His 2009 work advances the conversation way beyond the environmental determinism of previous analyses and instead focuses on the similarities and conflicts between human ecological imaginations and their real-world ee ff cts across a wide span of history. He begins with the development of indigenous ecological practices along the Potomac in the deep past and traces the complex interplay between human choices and climate change from 900AD till the de- velopment of maize agriculture and onward into the height of the Little Ice Age. Mirroring the historical reality, Rice begins placing Europeans in the Indian- controlled landscape and examines the gradual process of shifting inu fl ence in ecological decisions in the Potomac throughout the seventeenth century. The second half of the book shifts toward more traditional geopolitical narratives as http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png West Virginia History: A Journal of Regional Studies West Virginia University Press

Nature and History in the Potomac Country: From Hunter-Gatherers to the Age of Jefferson by James D. Rice (review)

Download PDF
2 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/west-virginia-university-press/i-nature-and-history-in-the-potomac-country-from-hunter-gatherers-to-hi9JWMXpl8
Publisher
West Virginia University Press
Copyright
West Virginia University Press
ISSN
1940-5057

Abstract

Book Reviews 123 Nature and History in the Potomac Country: From Hunter-Gatherers to the Age of Jefferson . By James D. Rice. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009. Pp. xvi, 338.) Much like the work of environmental histories from the late twentieth cen- tury, Rice’s second book connects the regional history of the Potomac River to the ecological interactions of human residents to the development of the re- gion. His 2009 work advances the conversation way beyond the environmental determinism of previous analyses and instead focuses on the similarities and conflicts between human ecological imaginations and their real-world ee ff cts across a wide span of history. He begins with the development of indigenous ecological practices along the Potomac in the deep past and traces the complex interplay between human choices and climate change from 900AD till the de- velopment of maize agriculture and onward into the height of the Little Ice Age. Mirroring the historical reality, Rice begins placing Europeans in the Indian- controlled landscape and examines the gradual process of shifting inu fl ence in ecological decisions in the Potomac throughout the seventeenth century. The second half of the book shifts toward more traditional geopolitical narratives as

Journal

West Virginia History: A Journal of Regional Studies – West Virginia University Press

Published: Oct 1, 2018

There are no references for this article.