Down to Earth: Nature’s Role in American History (4th Edition) by Ted Steinberg offers a sweeping and provocative environmental history of the United States, placing the natural world at the very center of the national narrative. By re-envisioning the story of America “from the ground up,” Steinberg reveals how ecological factors—including plants, animals, and climate—have radically shaped the course of human events. From the early colonists’ attempts to impose order on the landscape to modern efforts to market the wilderness as a consumer good, this text demonstrates that many defining episodes in U.S. history were fundamentally environmental in nature.

This edition examines familiar historical milestones such as colonization, the industrial revolution, slavery, and the Civil War through a unique ecological lens. It explores the ways in which Americans have attempted to reshape and control their environment, highlighting Thomas Jefferson’s surveying plans and the subsequent transformation of crops, water, and animals into marketable commodities. This comprehensive work challenges traditional historical perspectives by illustrating how the struggle to master nature has dictated the social, political, and economic development of the nation.

• Author: Ted Steinberg (Case Western Reserve University)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: September 14, 2018
• Edition: 4th Edition
• ISBN-10: 0190864427
• ISBN-13: 978-0190864422
• Language: English