Down to Earth: Nature鈥檚 role in American history by Ted Steinberg, Oxford University Press, $30, ISBN 0195140095 Reviewed by Roy Herbert
TED STEINBERG relentlessly relates the exploitation of America鈥檚 staggering natural resources and 鈥渢he environmental decline and fall of the American republic鈥�, a proposition that is provocative, to say the least. It has a grand sweep, from the arrival of the first European settlers on the eastern shores, through the expansion to the west, conquest of the native peoples, civil war and the emergence of the United States.
It鈥檚 a fascinating tale, much of it familiar from American films. The conventional history is here, but it鈥檚 seen from Steinberg鈥檚 ecological point of view. He claims to be an observer, simply accounting for ecological change and not out to make judgements, but it鈥檚 plain that this dispassion is in danger of slipping.
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He begins Down to Earth with the subtle and successful relations of the native peoples with their natural world. It was not, however, as idyllic as some suppose. But soon the people from Europe are swarming across the land, the people who see it as boundlessly full of commodities 鈥� things, even space, that can be bought and sold.
The rest of the book is a marvellous weave, connecting societies and cities, agriculture and industry, slavery and revolt, work and leisure to the environment, itself both imposing on and being affected by them. All this is well illustrated by frequently shocking photographs.
Steinberg concludes with Disney鈥檚 Animal Kingdom, which shows that you can treat other countries鈥� nature as a commodity as well as your own. The theme park reproduces Africa, complete with an A to Z of native plants and animals.
It鈥檚 come up against an unforeseen problem, however, that of huge quantities of elephant droppings. This is a small optimistic note about nature鈥檚 ability to strike back. You鈥檙e likely to need it.