Book ID: CBB001201256

Crabgrass Crucible: Suburban Nature and the Rise of Environmentalism in Twentieth-Century America (2012)

unapi

Sellers, Christopher C. (Author)


University of North Carolina Press


Publication Date: 2012
Physical Details: 374 pp.; ill.; bibl.; maps
Language: English

"Although suburb-building created major environmental problems, Christopher Sellers demonstrates that the environmental movement originated within suburbs--not just in response to unchecked urban sprawl. Drawn to the countryside as early as the late nineteenth century, new suburbanites turned to taming the wildness of their surroundings. They cultivated a fondness for the natural world around them, and in the decades that followed, they became sensitized to potential threats. Sellers shows how the philosophy, science, and emotions that catalyzed the environmental movement sprang directly from suburbanites' lives and their ideas about nature, as well as the unique ecology of the neighborhoods in which they dwelt. Sellers focuses on the spreading edges of New York and Los Angeles over the middle of the twentieth century to create an intimate portrait of what it was like to live amid suburban nature. As suburbanites learned about their land, became aware of pollution, and saw the forests shrinking around them, the vulnerability of both their bodies and their homes became apparent. Worries crossed lines of class and race and necessitated new ways of thinking and acting, Sellers argues, concluding that suburb-dwellers, through the knowledge and politics they forged, deserve much of the credit for inventing modern environmentalism."

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Reviewed By

Review Stephenson, Bruce (2013) Review of "Crabgrass Crucible: Suburban Nature and the Rise of Environmentalism in Twentieth-Century America". Journal of American History (pp. 901-902). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001201256/

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Authors & Contributors
Stradling, David S.
Dümpelmann, Sonja
William W. Buzbee
Francesco Vallerani
Stambaugh, Michael C.
Paul, Alistair
Concepts
Environmental history
Environmentalism
Political activists and activism
Environmental protection
Science and culture
Ecology
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
20th century, late
18th century
21st century
17th century
Places
United States
New York City (New York, U.S.)
Seattle (Washington, U.S.)
Baltimore (Maryland, U.S.)
St. Louis (Missouri, U.S.)
Ghana
Institutions
Australian Academy of Science
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