Ebook Download American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation, by Eric Rutkow
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American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation, by Eric Rutkow
Ebook Download American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation, by Eric Rutkow
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Review
“An original and often surprising take on American history.” —Wall Street Journal“There is much in this book on the prevalence of wood products in our life, but more on their deeper significance. This book is not merely a history, but an eloquent advocate of, as Rutkow writes, ‘how trees change from enemy, to friend, to potential savior.’” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch“A lively story of driven personalities, resources that were once thought to be endless, brilliant ideas, tragic mistakes and the evolution of the United States. Rutkow has cut through America’s use and love of trees to reveal the rings of our nation’s history and the people who have helped shape it.” —San Diego Union Tribune"An excellent book for both academics and general readers, this is highly recommended." -Library Journal"An even-handed and comprehensive history that could not be more relevant...The woods, Rutkow’s history reminds us again and again, are essential to our humanity." --Business Week "A deeply fascinating survey of American history through a particularly interesting angle: down through the boughs of our vanished trees." -Boston Globe“For those who see our history through the traditional categories of politics, economics, and culture, a delightful feast awaits. In this remarkably inventive book, Eric Rutkow looks at our national experience through the lens of our magnificent trees, showing their extraordinary importance in shaping how we lived, thrived, and expanded as a people. A beautifully written, devilishly original piece of work.” —David Oshinsky, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Polio: An American Story"Right from its quietly shocking prelude--the cavalier and surprisingly recent murder of the oldest living thing in North America--Eric Rutkow’s splendid saga shows, through a chain of stories and biographical sketches that are intimate, fresh, and often startling, how trees have shaped every aspect of our national life. Here is the tree as symbol and as tool, as companion and enemy, as a tonic for our spirits and the indispensable ingredient of our every enterprise from the colonization voyages to the transcontinental railroad to Levittown. The result, both fascinating and valuable, is a sort of shadow history of America. Toward the end of his finest novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald writes that the 'vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of human dreams.' AMERICAN CANOPY retrieves those trees and does full-rigged (on tall, white pine masts) justice to the dream." --Richard Snow, author of A Measureless Peril and former Editor-in-Chief of American Heritage"AMERICAN CANOPY marks the debut of an uncommonly gifted young historian and writer. Ranging across four centuries of history, Eric Rutkow shows the manifold ways in which trees--and woodland--and wood--have shaped the contours of American life and culture. And because he has managed to build the story around gripping events and lively characters, the book entertains as much as it as informs. All in all, a remarkable performance!" --John Demos, Samuel Knight Professor of History at Yale University, and author of Entertaining Satan, winner of the Bancroft Prize in American History, and The Unredeemed Captive, which was a finalist for the National Book Award
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About the Author
Eric Rutkow is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School. He has worked as a lawyer on environmental issues across three continents. He currently splits his time between New York City and New Haven, Connecticut, where, in addition to writing, he is pursuing a doctorate in American History at Yale. This is his first book.
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Product details
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Scribner; 1st edition (April 24, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1439193541
ISBN-13: 978-1439193549
Product Dimensions:
6.1 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review:
4.4 out of 5 stars
97 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#473,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
You will not find it so riveting that you will stay up to the wee hours of the morning, but it is quite informative. I had never heard of the shelterbelt which was a Roosevelt plan to plan trees north to south in the dust bowl to attempt to eliminate the desert-like conditions. Who knew that General "Blackjack" Pershing had an insatiable desire for Sitka pines during WW I? People were amazed and unbelieving that a tree as large as the Sequoias could exist.As a Philadelphian, I was disappointed that there was no mention of Fairmount Park which is much larger than Central Park which receives a good writeup. I would have omitted the last chapter on the Environment, but Mr. Rutkow is foremost an environmentalist, secondly a historian, and thirdly a doctor of laws.
When you really stop and think about it, attempting to write a history of trees in a country as massive and geographically diverse as the United States is necessarily a gargantuan undertaking. Evidently, the idea of America's trees and forests as the subject of a broad historical study had simply never been attempted before. But I am here to tell you that first-time author Eric Rutkow pulls it off with great aplomb in his compelling and comprehensive new book "American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and The Making of a Nation." This one is just chock-a-block full of important people, places, events and issues and lays out for the reader a chronological history of the essential role that America's trees and forests have played in the history of our nation. I simply could not put this book down.In "American Canopy" you will discover that the British had designs on the land that would become America as early as 1584. Richard Hakluyt, a prominent British citizen and preeminent geographer proposed establishing permanent settlements whereby transplanted Englishmen would work the land. Hakluyt well understood the treasure trove of natural resources that seemed to be there for the taking. Timber was badly needed to maintain and expand the British naval fleet. Eventually colonies were established and by 1629 a shipbuilding industry was beginning to emerge in New England. But this was just the beginning of the story....As I indicated earlier "American Canopy" chronicles the important people, places, events and issues in the history of America's forests. Eric Rutkow offers up engaging stories involving several American presidents including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and his distant cousin Franklin Roosevelt. You will learn about the explorers Lewis and Clark and discover the roles played by a distinguished group of other prominent Americans including Thomas Edison, Frederick Law Olmstead, Daniel Boone, Frederick Weyerhauser, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford, John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed), Henry David Thoreau, Gifford Pinchot, James Fenimore Cooper and William Levitt to name but a few. Furthermore, you will discover that when our nation was first settled the forest cover was estimated to be some one billion acres and how over a period of just 300 years that figure would dwindle to just 600 million acres. Rutkow talks extensively about the negative effects clear-cutting, insects, fire and disease have had on our forests over the centuries. This is not a pretty picture but you may actually be encouraged by the way America has chosen to fight back in recent decades. You will also discover the role the federal government has played in the development and protection of our forests and wilderness areas over the years. Rutkow cites the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 and John Muir's remarkable effort to establish Yosemite National Park as particularly significant milestones. I was also pleased to read about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that was established by President Franklin Roosevelt back in 1933. As a result of that program a young man from Providence, Rhode Island, who would eventually become my dad, was able to spend a couple of years working in the wilds of Wyoming planting trees, carving out trails, erecting firetowers and building fire protection roads among other things. This proved to be a very rewarding experience for so many young men during that difficult economic time. Meanwhile, Rutkow also documents the origins and evolution of both the "conservation" and "environmentalist" movements in this nation. Merely "protecting the nation's forests" would morph into "conservation" a philosophy that proclaimed that "all natural resources ought to be managed with an eye toward sustainability and efficient use." Then in 1960 with the passage of MUSYA (Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act) the federal government would declare that "It is the policy of the Congress that the national forests are established and shall be administered for outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, wildlife and fish purposes". Note the amazing change in emphasis here. Our nation's forests were no longer merely a resource to be exploited for profit. Very interesting indeed!So whether you are a history buff or just someone who is endlessly curious about the world around you "American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation" should be right up your alley. This is a thoughtful, meticulously researched and well-written book. I must tell you that this is easily the best book I have read thus far in 2012. It is such a fascinating topic. In my view "American Canopy" is an extremely important work and I suspect that Eric Rutkow is someone we will be hearing a lot more from in the future. He proves to be a very gifted writer! This is a book that is definitely worth your time and attention. Very highly recommended!
Tracing the importance of trees in American history, Eric Rutkow is understandably forced to be selective in what he dwells on in American Canopy. Despite glossing over some areas I would not have, he still has put together a very engaging and clearly well researched series of tales showing how Americans have finally come to understand the profundity of trees through centuries of reliance, abuse and increasingly responsible management.Highlights of American Canopy for me tend to center around the earlier history of the American colonies and the nascent US. From the use of Maine's white pines for shipmasts and early (futile) attempts to restrict the best trees for use by the Royal Navy, to the symbolic importance of liberty trees in town squares throughout states.Much focus is placed on the absolutely vast stock of timber settlers found waiting for them and the profligacy it engendered. Seemingly unending supplies of wood rendered needless any degree of resource management by America's earliest European colonists, and the author charts the long course of that philosophy, and its consequences, into the modern day.Though broadly a chronological history of the country and its use of trees, Rutkow takes time out to focus on various themes, including expansion of logging from the northeast to the lake states, the deep south and the pacific northwest. He also details the fall of two iconic American trees - the chestnut and the elm - all but wiped out by disease.Familiar names include Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park; John Muir and Gifford Pinchot, two of America's founding conservationists; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose Civilian Conservation Corps brought forest tourism to the American people and whose deep love of trees many who know him mainly in the context of World War 2 will find fascinating.The final section of American Canopy expands to include the environmental movement of the latter 20th century as a whole. I didn't mind this but it did seem to me to roam somewhat from the core topic. My only real criticism of American Canopy as a whole relates back to one of my first points - in what Rutkow chooses to omit. I was expecting Theodore Roosevelt to feature much more heavily in this book, and the work done to secure so much land for conservation purposes through the National Parks system around the turn of the century. Perhaps the author felt it has been dealt with elsewhere but to me it seemed an oversight. It also seemed to me that the role of trees and timber in the Civil War was given short-thrift. While it's possible there simply weren't many good stories to tell about this period as they would relate to trees, I probably would have tried to include something.
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